NAFTA and Climate Change

Description

NAFTA's revision remains a centerpiece of US trade-policy debate. But, mounting concern over the relationship between trade and the environment has superseded the practice of sacrificing environmental concerns for the sake of trade liberalization. Moreover, US responsibility for total greenhouse gas emissions heightens the urgency for US leadership in re-examining NAFTA, with an eye toward environmentally minded trade policy. Aligning NAFTA with Climate Change Objectives provides a critical assessment of how NAFTA initiatives will contribute to the achievement of important climate-change goals at both regional and global levels. This timely volume analyzes the national policies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico and envisions NAFTA's role in crafting laws and reconciling existing legislation in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The authors explain how competing goals and the prioritization of individual province, state, or government agendas can slow coordination measures to curtail emissions throughout North America. To that end, US enactment of climate laws and regulations is particularly significant because US climate policy in coordination with NAFTA will establish a precedent for other free trade agreements and climate-change compacts. Aligning NAFTA with Climate Change Objectives answers how to overturn a one-dimensional approach to trade-policy design by making environmental endeavors and trade objectives compatible for future free trade agreements. This thorough investigation advances potential solutions, including the harmonization of production-process standards among the NAFTA countries, amendments to the NAFTA treaty addressing climate-trade issues, enhancement of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation; and the development of practical channels for transferring technical and financial assistance from developed to developing countries.