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7 J. Envtl. L. & Litig. 1 (1992)
Using Trade Agreements to Protect the Environment

handle is hein.journals/jenvll7 and id is 11 raw text is: FOREWORDS Congressman Ron Wyden Using Trade Agreements to Protect the Environment Five years ago, if someone had asked an environmentalist how an international trade agreement might affect environmental protection, the response would most likely have been a blank stare. The same ques- tion asked of a trade negotiator would have drawn a similar response. Five years ago, trade and environmental experts worked in separate worlds and spoke completely different languages. But today, trade and the environment are cohabiting, and policy makers from both worlds are haltingly leaming each other's language, customs, and needs. In 1991, when Congress was debating whether to extend the President's fast track trade negotiating authority for the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the question of en- vironmental protection became a critical issue. A bloc of over forty Con- gressmen conditioned their support for fast track on a promise by President Bush to preserve the environment, and elicited a presiden- tial Action Plan meant to implement that promise. Their votes provided the margin to support fast track reauthorization in a 231-192 vote. Since that vote, pro-trade environmentalists have battled the admin- istration over just what it means to preserve the environment in the context of a trade negotiation. The outcome of that battle will have significant effect on the debate over approving a Uruguay Round agreement and will almost certainly decide the fate of the NAFTA. The NAFTA text initialed by President Bush in September 1992 and the accompanying Integrated Border Environmental Plan (IBEP) are .United States House of Representatives (D. 3d Dist. Or.) (elected 1980); J.D., University of Oregon, 1974; A.B., Stanford University, 1971. [I]