WTO Ministerial Section • Volume 2 • Number 19 • 25th May 1998
Trade and environment showdown at ministerial
In his opening address at the WTO ministerial last week, WTO Director- General Rennato Ruggiero called for “renewed political impetus” for the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) in order to seriously address the issue of trade and environmental linkage. Mr. Ruggiero also promised increased dialogue between the global trade body and environmental groups in an effort to assuage environmentalist’s fears that WTO rules threaten the environment.
U.S. President Bill Clinton in his ministerial address called for a high-level meeting of trade and environmental ministers to provide direction to future WTO environmental efforts, echoing a suggestion of the European Commission to the same effect. Three recent cases have placed once more the linkages between trade and environment in the international media’s agenda: the ruling on the EU banana-import regime; the ruling on the EU ban on hormone-treated beef imports; and the very high-profile shrimp-turtle ruling on the U.S. ban on imports of shrimp caught without the use of so-called turtle-excluder devices (TEDs).
British Prime Minister Toni Blair last week told trading partners that protecting the environment is “perhaps the major challenge we face as we head toward the next century,” and said that environmental protection should be incorporated into trade rules. Mr. Blair warned however that with regard to environmental and labor linkage to trade, “trade rules should not be used to impose unfair standards on developing countries, nor to discriminate against their exports.”
“Ruggiero offers olive branch on environment,” FINANCIAL TIMES, May 19, 1998; “Blair in trade plea for third world nations,” FINANCIAL TIMES, May 20, 1998; “Blair in trade plea for third world nations,” FINANCIAL TIMES, May 20, 1998.