The Greening of Free Trade? The Debate about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Environment

Abstract

The study of human—nature relationships has long been central to geographic inquiry. Recent attempts to reconcile the growing demands of the international economy with the equally important concerns about environmental protection can be seen as one challenge to the dominant construction of human—nature relationships. Attempts to ‘green trade’ are well illustrated in the debate about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the environment. This paper presents three arguments. First, the growing influence of the environmental movement in the USA during the past twenty-five years has embedded concern for the environment in political culture. This ‘politics of the environment’ is exemplified in NAFTA's explicit goal of promoting sustainable development. Including sustainable development as a specified goal thus provided environmentalists a legitimate entry into the NAFTA debate over free trade, development, and environmental protection. Second, it is argued that the NAFTA debate highlights several trade—environment dilemmas, dilemmas which must be addressed in order to reconcile economics and the environment. Particular attention will be paid to the debate about NAFTA and environmental sovereignty. Third, the NAFTA debate brought together two distinct communities: free traders and environmentalists. Far from being two exclusive communities, in this paper I assert that economics and the environment must be seen as interdependent forces which will increasingly interact with each other. In the case of NAFTA, these two communities not only interacted with each other, they created a common ground which made supporting NAFTA acceptable to both interest groups. The creation of a common ground took place through negotiation, debate, and compromise, and thus is a fundamental engagement with human—nature constructions. I conclude that we can expect the environmental community to participate in future trade and development issues because environmentalists now see these areas as critical to reconciling economic—environment and human—nature relationships.