Environment and the WTO

Question 1

Environmentalists fear ______

Answer 1

(a) not being able to restrict imports that may harm their own environment
(b) not being able to restrict imports that harm the environment outside their territory (ex: US shrimp-turtle and shrimp-dolphin cases)
(c) race to the bottom in terms of labor and environmental standards

Question 2

Potential Caveats

Answer 2

(a) little evidence of race to the bottom

(b) FDI and development –> improved environmental regulation
(b. i) ex: Namibia fishing and Marine Stewardship Council

(c) recent WTO decisions have not been “unfair” or “anti-environment”
(c. i) the role of WTO is limited by the boundaries set by its charter (e.g. it can only divide whether trade policies are discriminatory or not)
(c. ii) while WTO did not uphold US trade policy in shrimp-turtle case (because it was discriminatory), it did uphold French ban on asbestos (because it was non-discriminatory)