The Problem of Enforcing Environmental Norms in the WTO and What to Do about It

National and international focus and efforts on trade has led to the comparative disadvantage of international environmental policy relative to trade policy in what is known as the trade-environment problematique. The tension between trade and the environment does not exist because trade norms trump environmental norms, but because of the tension between environmental protection and the intensification of economic activity to provide for the world's growing population. This article argues that rather than creating a new international institution to address the trade-environment problematique, international environmental policy should instead be more fully and deeply integrated into economic policy, which can only be achieved through the World Trade Organization.