Free International Trade and Protection of the Environment: Irreconcilable Conflict?

Abstract

States should cooperate to promote a supportive and open international economic system that would lead to economic growth and sustainable development in all countries, to better address the problems of environmental degradation. Trade policy measures for environmental purposes should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade. Unilateral actions to deal with environmental challenges outside the jurisdiction of the importing country should be avoided. Environmental measures addressing transboundary or global environmental problems should, as far as possible, be based on an international consensus.Principle 12 Rio Declaration on Environment and DevelopmentThe global multilateral trading system and its centerpiece, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), are facing a new challenge from a quite unexpected quarter. The GATT is under attack by some in the environmental community who charge that international free trade blindly fosters the exploitation of natural resources. The GATT is depicted as a sinister charter that allows “big business” a free hand to plunder the bounty of the natural world. In certain environmentalists’ view, “free trade can destroy the environment.” Thus, a segment of the large and influential environmentalist lobby has joined the growing coalition of interests seeking to scuttle what is left of international free trade.