ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the trade-environment relationship. It argues that freer trade and economic integration more broadly offer the promise of improved social welfare—as do programs aimed at pollution abatement and improved natural resource management. The trade and environmental policy agendas have been driven together by a number of factors. First, environmental issues have taken on increased salience in the last several decades. Trying to accommodate new issues on the public agenda often creates strain. Efforts to make trade and environmental policies more compatible have faced significant obstacles. The trade and environmental communities have distinct goals, traditions, operating procedures, and even language. Free traders worry that the environmentalists’ critique of trade is misplaced and could result in the disruption of efforts to promote trade liberalization and to obtain the benefits promised by more open markets around the world. Free traders note that both freer trade and environmental protection efforts are aimed at promoting efficiency and reducing waste.
