(begin fact sheet)
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of Public Affairs
November 20, 2007
Free Trade Agreements and the Environment
“These (proposed) agreements contain
the strongest labor and environmental obligations of any
… trade agreement anywhere in the world.”
–Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
In signing the Trade Act of 2002, President
George W. Bush recognized that advancing free trade and
protecting the environment are mutually supportive.
FREE TRADE ACT PROVISIONS
Trade agreements that the United States
negotiates under the Trade Act of 2002 include comprehensive
bilateral environmental provisions that are legally binding.
The U.S. also negotiates separate environmental cooperation
mechanisms alongside its Trade Agreements. These mechanisms
commit the United States and its partners to implement cooperative
environmental activities.
ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS
The Bush Administration and the U.S. Congress
have agreed to incorporate a number of multilateral environmental
agreements into our Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).
The trade agreements with Peru, Colombia,
Panama and South Korea, now being considered, contain the
strongest environmental requirements to date. They include:
• Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species
• Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances
• Convention on Marine Pollution
• Inter-American Tropical Tuna Convention
• Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
• International Whaling Convention
• Convention on Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living
Resources
The U.S. also has agreed that all FTA environmental
obligations will be enforced on the same basis as our commercial
provisions, using the same remedies, procedures, and sanctions.
For example, our environmental dispute settlement procedures
previously used fines but now involve trade sanctions.
ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION MECHANISMS - EXAMPLES
Peru
In connection with the proposed Peru FTA,
the U.S. has agreed to work with the Government of Peru:
• To address illegal logging, including
of endangered mahogany.
• To restrict trade in endangered species.
MECHANISMS IN FORCE
Chile
• The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration works with Chilean officials to promote best
practices in establishing and managing Marine Protected
Areas.
• Yosemite National Park and Torres del Paine National
Park entered into a “Sister Parks Partnership”
that will expand cooperation in improving management of
the two parks.
• The Environmental Law Institute has trained judges
from all over Chile in the fundamentals of environmental
law.
Singapore/Southeast Asia
• The United States and Singapore
are working together in the ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally
Sustainable Cities.
• As a result, the U.S. is working with a program
pairing U.S. states with cities in Asia to achieve cleaner
air, water, and land: Oregon with Chiang Mai and Hanoi on
air quality; New Hampshire with Phnom Penh and Ha Long on
water quality; and Maryland with Balikpapan City and Iloilo
City on land contamination.
• Singapore and the U.S. have trained port inspectors
and customs authorities to identify illegal shipments of
ramin wood, an endangered species of tropical hardwood.
North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)
• The United States, Canada and Mexico
are working to protect species of common concern in North
America including the Humpback Whale, Pink-Footed Shearwater,
Leatherback Turtle, Monarch Butterfly and Vaquita Porpoise.
• The United States and Canada have assisted in the
development of Mexico’s air emissions inventories,
and the three countries are working to synchronize their
inventories.
• The three countries are establishing a framework
for the sound management of chemicals including chlordane,
PCBs, mercury, dioxins, furans/HCB, and lindane.
(end fact sheet)
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