International trade and the environment: Protection of trade or liberalised environmental protection?

The trade and environment debate is complex, and little consensus has been reached on the relationship between trade liberalisation and environmental protection. This became visible in the OECD process on the trade-environment nexus and the same debate within the WTO. The objective of this article is to explain why it is so difficult to reach agreements within this issue area. We focus on two factors: (1) It is difficult for countries to define their national interests with respect to the trade-environment nexus. Our point of departure is the OECD process in which traditional nation-state representation was challenged by sectoral-functional identity. (2) In the WTO there exists a clear North-South cleavage, and this cleavage is tuned to the various member countries' choice of approach to the trade-environment nexus. Therefore experiences gained in the OECD process are not necessarily transferred to the WTO. Thus, we argue that one cannot understand the problem of establishing international consensus within the trade-environment nexus as long sis analyses of national political processes are not combined with an understanding of the international constraints to autonomous state action.