Trade and Environment

The report examines the conflict between international trade expansion and environmental protection, highlighting how the World Trade Organization (WTO) typically prioritizes trade rules over environmental measures. It criticizes the U.S. government for abandoning its leadership in this area since the adoption of the NAFTA environmental side agreement and for prioritizing business interests. The authors propose a new foreign policy agenda that includes conditioning the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on 'readiness criteria' for environmental protection, increasing public and NGO participation in trade policymaking, and strengthening the role of UN institutions like UNEP and UNDP in trade-environment disputes.

• Environmentalists argue that trade expansion can lead to economic growth that exceeds the political will and institutional capacity to manage environmental impacts, potentially shifting developing countries toward unsustainable production patterns such as export-oriented monocultures.
• While the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) allows exceptions for measures necessary to protect life or health or to conserve exhaustible natural resources, the WTO's trade orientation usually results in trade rules taking precedence over environmental protection.
• The U.S. government has shifted its focus toward protecting business interests against environmental policies, evidenced by the fact that only business sector representatives were invited as nongovernmental members of the U.S. delegation for U.S.-EU bilateral negotiations on ecolabeling.
• Several U.S. environmental laws have been found inconsistent with GATT by WTO panels, including laws regarding dolphin protection in tuna fishing, automobile fuel-efficiency standards, and reformulated gasoline and oil.
• The authors recommend that the U.S. condition its support for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on countries meeting explicit 'readiness criteria' regarding their environmental regulatory systems, potentially using a tiered approach to allow for capacity building.

APA

Hunter, D., & Van Dyke, B. (1997). Trade and Environment. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TandE_Global_1997.pdf

Chicago

Hunter, David, and Brennan Van Dyke. Trade and Environment. Center for International Environmental Law, 1997. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TandE_Global_1997.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hunter |first1=David |last2=Van Dyke |first2=Brennan |title=Trade and Environment |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=1997 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TandE_Global_1997.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hunter1997trade, author = {Hunter, David and Van Dyke, Brennan}, title = {{Trade and Environment}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {1997}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TandE_Global_1997.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }