Trade and Environment: GATT and NAFTA (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised April 4, 1994 |
| Report Number |
94-165 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Susan R. Fletcher and Mary Tiemann, Environment and Natural Resources Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
Environmental concerns in trade negotiations have received extensive attention by policymakers
both
with regard to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and to the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA). At the conclusion of the NAFTA, environmental concerns were
addressed both within the agreement and in side agreements that were critical to passage of NAFTA
implementing legislation in the United States. Similarly, although not initially expected to address
environment, the GATT Uruguay Round agreement contains a number of provisions advocated by
environmental groups. Following completion of the Uruguay Round agreement in December 1993,
negotiations continued on formulation of an environmental work program for GATT. Negotiators
decided in March that a Committee on Trade and Environment is to be established in the newly
established World Trade Organization (WTO).
A number of basic concerns have been raised during the debates on trade and the environment,
spanning a wide range of issues. These include concerns that differences in environmental
regulations may affect competitiveness, raising the question of whether and how to ``harmonize,''
or achieve some internationally accepted convergence of, environmental standards; concern that if
countries are not allowed to control or restrict exports, they may lose a major tool for conserving
resources that are overharvested for trade markets; the use of trade measures in international
agreements; concerns about unilateral use of trade measures. An important underlying issue is the
extent to which environmental issues can or should be negotiated and resolved within the context
of trade agreements.
In the final agreement of the Uruguay Round of GATT in December, some environmental
issues were addressed directly, while others were deferred by the recommendation that a work
program for environmental issues be formulated for approval at the April 15 Ministerial meeting in
Marrakech, Morocco, where the Uruguay Round agreement will be signed. Modifications were
made in key language on technical barriers to trade (TBTs), sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards
(SPS), and dispute settlement, and language on protection of the environment and sustainable
development was added to the priorities in the preamble. The December agreement also approved
some limited environmental subsidies. Following up on the December decision to formulate a work
program on environmental issues to address major environmental concerns in the post-Uruguay
period, GATT negotiators decided in March 1994 that a Trade and Environment Committee is to be
established within the WTO, and a broad work plan was outlined.
Negotiation of the NAFTA, signed December 17, 1992, involved unprecedented consideration
of environmental issues in the context of a trade agreement. In the final text, negotiators included
several environment-related provisions, including language to generally preserve participating
countries' laws and regulations on environment, health and safety. These are briefly described in this
report.
