International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Trade and Environment

116 posts

Brookings Event on Climate Change, Trade and Competitiveness

The conference is over, but the papers are up on the Brookings web site: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2008/0609_climate_trade.aspx Here's a brief summary: On June 9, 2008, Brookings convened more than 70 stakeholders for a conference on “Climate Change, Trade and Competitiveness.” The

Fine-Tuning the Discrimination Against Foreign Ethanol

From a press release related to a Senate bill to reduce ethanol tariffs: U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) today introduced a bipartisan measure with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to reduce the tariff on imported ethanol. If passed, the legislation would allow U.S. refiners to purchase cheaper and more

Lamy on Unilateral Trade Measures

In a recent speech to the European Parliament, WTO DG Pascal Lamy had this to say in the context of efforts to fight climate change: Many of those advocating a “go-it-alone” approach draw on WTO jurisprudence, in particular on the Shrimp-Turtle reports from the WTO Appellate Body to argue that

Protectionism and Wind Power

From a WSJ blog: We’ve noted before how China’s headlong push into wind power could put pressure on the rest of the global wind industry. Chinese turbines need the same scarce components as the turbines being built and installed in Europe, India, and the U.S. Now that

Obama and McCain on Cap-and-Trade

Via Peter Gallagher, I came across the following from Obama adviser Jason Grumet: To be unequivocally clear, Sen. Obama believes that the United States must and will act to put a mandatory limit on our domestic greenhouse-gas emissions. That is a predicate for us leading the world to enact a

Biodiesel Tit-for-Tat

From the EU: In a move which could trigger a new transatlantic trade row, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) said it was formally requsting the EU's executive Commission to hit U.S. imports with anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties due to unfair subsidies."Since 2007, as a result

Trade in Water

From an editorial in the Toronto Star: As aquifers and rivers in the United States run dry, there seems little doubt that the Americans will be turning their thirsty eyes north toward our seemingly plentiful water supply. Indeed, no less an authority than former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed has predicted:

Some Questions about Labor/Environment Provisions in Trade Agreements

This Presidential campaign has made it very clear that there are a number of people (mostly Democrats, I would guess), including the two remaining Democratic Presidential candidates, whose support for trade agreements is conditional on having enforceable labor and environmental rules as part of these agreements. This view raises a

Missouri’s Tax Break for American-Made Hybrid Cars

It is true that the United States has come late to environmentalism (and still has a ways to go). Nonetheless, even in the “heartland” we are starting to see the beginning of a Green Revolution. But, with these positive moves there is always the danger of populist protectionism rearing its

Is Trade In Food Products Always Bad for the Environment?

From the New Yorker: It is a logical and widely held assumption that the ecological impacts of transporting food—particularly on airplanes over great distances—are far more significant than if that food were grown locally. For example: according to one recent study, factories throughout the world are burning eighteen