Review of The WTO and the Environment: Development of Competence Beyond Trade

Abstract

The link between trade and the environment is the main theme of The WTO and the Environment by James Watson. The trade and environment regimes have evolved separately with different goals. While trade rules aim to eliminate protectionism and promote free and globalized trade, environmental measures seek to facilitate conservation or protection of the environment and its basic components. The goals of the international trade and environment regimes have clashed in many respects: environmentalists argue that free trade will eliminate or limit the protection of the environment and cause negative environmental effects, while free traders claim that environmental measures will most likely close the market. Concerning this significant and ongoing interaction, much has been written since the early 1990s.

Keywords: trade and the environment, WTO, conservation or protection of the environment, GATT Article XX(g), Committee on Trade and Environment

JEL Classification: K32, K33