Skip to main content

Trade and the Environment

About this Course

This course is an up-to-the-minute, in-depth treatment of the intersection and frequent clash between two areas of policy and law, both of which are intended to promote human welfare and sustainable development: trade liberalization and environmental protection. The course addresses cutting-edge questions in the field, including protection of natural resources through unilateral trade-based measures, the legality of multilateral environmental agreements employing trade measures, utilization of science-based trade tests, and environmental impacts of foreign investment liberalization. The course analyzes all the major junctures in the evolution of this area of the law, including the tuna/dolphin, shrimp/turtle, asbestos, beef hormone, and genetically engineered food and crop cases, as well as investment disputes under NAFTA. Students will be exposed to the major international trade agreements and institutions, such as GATT, NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, and the draft Multilateral Agreement on Investment, in some detail. No prior familiarity with either trade law or environmental law is necessary or assumed.

Course number

405

Program

Unspecified

Subject

Unspecified