White House Vows to Link Environment, Trade Pacts

Acting to defuse criticism on the eve of controversial global trade talks, the White House promised Tuesday to conduct environmental reviews of future trade agreements to reassure Americans that their safety and health are not in jeopardy.

George Frampton, acting chair of the administration’s Council on Environmental Quality, said the executive order is designed to assure the public that it will pursue all trade-liberalization efforts “in a manner that is fully consistent and supportive of our strong commitment to the environment.”

Election-year politics also may have played a role. Environmental groups, supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, have lobbied for tougher environmental standards under the World Trade Organization, a Geneva-based global trade group set to launch key talks in Seattle on Nov. 30. Labor has made a similar push on working conditions.

Tuesday’s environmental initiative comes just weeks after the Clinton administration announced it would push for the establishment of a committee to study labor issues at the upcoming WTO meeting.

Dan Esty, director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, called the new White House policy a positive step that would “ensure [that] the inescapable connections between trade policymaking and environmental policymaking will be taken seriously.”

But he said the “real test” will be whether a commitment to addressing environmental issues is contained in the final declaration by the trade ministers attending the four-day WTO meeting.

The U.S. pledge is certain to further antagonize developing countries, many of which view these environmental and labor concerns as protectionist measures aimed at raising their costs of doing business.

To address those criticisms, the U.S. government said it is providing technical assistance and other support to promote environmentally sustainable trade in the developing world.

Tuesday’s announcement drew guarded praise from environmentalist groups, which wanted more aggressive action, and mixed reviews from business groups worried about bringing controversial topics into trade talks.

David Downes, a senior attorney at the Washington-based Center for International Environmental Law, welcomed the administration’s decision to assess the environmental impacts of future trade agreements while they are still being negotiated.

But he called on the United States to demonstrate its new environmental resolve at the WTO’s Seattle meeting by dropping efforts to liberalize trade in wood products. He argues that those measures will accelerate destructive logging practices in countries with lax controls, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

Frampton said the administration has no plans to back off on wood-products trade, citing a recent study that showed tariff reductions will have “minimal impact on the environment.”

Dan Seligman, a Sierra Club trade specialist, also criticized the Clinton administration for failing to push harder for changes in the existing WTO system. It has been used by foreign countries to successfully challenge U.S. laws designed to promote fishing techniques that protect sea turtles and prevent the import of dirty gasoline.

“The White House remains in denial about the central issues raised by the U.S. environmental community,” Seligman said.

But Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sue Esserman insisted Tuesday that the U.S. government was able in the sea turtle and imported gasoline cases to make its laws WTO-compatible without undermining the strict environmental standards upon which the laws were based.

“We have vigorously defended America’s right to take strong environmental actions,” she said.

Business groups have generally opposed bringing environmental issues into trade talks, arguing that they should be handled by groups such as the U.N. Environment Program.

But Barry Polsky, a spokesman for the American Forest & Paper Assn., said Tuesday that his members were confident they could pass any environmental tests linked to future trade agreements.