ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a detailed description of the suite of environmental policies that are included in fourteen US trade agreements, including the regional North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as well as the bilateral trade agreements with Jordan, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Morocco, Bahrain, Oman, Peru, Colombia, S. Korea, and Panama, and associated environmental side agreements. The environmental policies cover a broad range of issues related to effective enforcement of environmental laws and obligations under multilateral environmental agreements, commitments to provide citizens with legal recourse to ensure the laws are enforced, and cooperation on substantive topics such as conservation of biodiversity and reducing pollution. To simplify the discussion and comparison of the policies, the policies are categorized as aspirational, cooperative, quasi-regulatory, and permissive, and this classification system is discussed in the chapter. Using this categorization, the notable similarities and differences of the policies within these categories, both across trade agreements and over time, are discussed. Lastly, a discussion of the institutional structures, such as environmental cooperation commissions, environmental affairs councils, or secretariat for environmental matters, is provided in the chapter.
