نگه داشتن "T" در سازمان تجارت جهانی:جایی کنار محیط زیست و استانداردهای کار؟

Agreement on a new trade Round depends partly on reassuring voters that it will contribute to better environmental protection and more social justice. That argument should be won comfortably. Increased international trade is a powerful tool for tackling poverty—the single biggest cause of environmental degradation and social misery world-wide—and many individual trade restrictions have direct, negative, environmental and social effects. Proposals to punish irresponsible environmental and social behavior through the WTO are a much more doubtful prospect. Without the underpinning of universally accepted environmental and social standards, trade restrictions are the wrong policy tool to use.