Publisher's Synopsis
"Trade and the environment" issues have engaged powerful non-governmental organizations in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. Environmentalists and labor union leaders have been concerned that falling international trade barriers, along with international trade organizations associated with free trade, are undermining environmental protection. In contrast, business leaders and developing-country governments have been concerned that purported environmental regulations may be used as disguised barriers to trade. Those with competing perspectives on these issues have clashed in scholarly journals, the editorial pages of leading newspapers, the halls of government-and in the streets. This is the first book that systematically compares how each of the world's major international trade organizations has been addressing environmental issues. It provides background, up-to-date information, and analysis on the development of trade-environment rules in the World Trade Organization, the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Organization for Standardization, and other key organizations. All of the essays are both policy-oriented and conscious of their theoretical underpinnings. Together they offer a range of realist, liberal, and institutionalist perspectives. The book concludes by suggesting that the treatment of environmental issues in international trade organizations is best explained by understanding the trade and environment interests of the world's most powerful countries.
