AFBF Says Trade and Environment Relationships Need Science

August 4, 2000

Any assessment of how trade agreements relate to environmental quality should be conducted in an independent and scientific manner, otherwise opponents of free trade could use the process to diminish economic benefits resulting from the agreement, the American Farm Bureau Federation told U.S. trade officials.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Charlie Kruse told the U.S. Trade Representative's office that despite efforts to incorporate environmental issues into the North American Free Trade Agreement, the ability to conduct a meaningful environmental review of entire international trade agreements "is at best in the developmental stage." He said trade agreements are too important for farmers and ranchers to allow them to be compromised.

"If a credible environmental review cannot be conducted, it should not be undertaken," said Kruse, a corn, wheat, soybean and cotton producer who co-chairs the American Farm Bureau Federation's trade advisory committee.

Kruse urged trade officials to take into account several Farm Bureau concerns as they consider recently published draft guidelines for environmental reviews of trade agreements.

Those recommendations include that environmental reviews must be performed by an independent and competent agency and/or independent and competent scientists; data used to conduct environmental reviews must be science-based and peer-reviewed; a review should assess the impacts on U.S., not global, interests and environmental goals; an environmental review should not be sole determinant of whether a trade agreement should be ratified, and U.S. producers should not be held to a higher environmental standard than other parties to a proposed trade agreement.