Note:
Carl F. Schwenker, Protecting the Environment and U.S. Competitiveness in the Era of Free Trade: A Proposal, 71 TEXAS L. REV. 1355 (1993).
 

Abstract:
This Note explores the potential impact of NAFTA, both on the environments of Mexico and the United States and on the competitiveness of U.S. business and industry, and then proposes legislation to prevent harmful environmental and economic side effects that may result from free trade. First, the author provides an overview of NAFTA and discusses trading partners' expectations for NAFTA. Second, the author examines the likely interaction of NAFTA with the U.S. and Mexican environmental regimes and discusses how this interaction may have negative effects on the environment and U.S. competitiveness. Third, the author examines alternative methods of solving these problems, and fourth, the author argues that the potential for environmental transboundary harm gives the United States a special basis for addressing the problem unilaterally. Fifth, the author proposes that the United States take unilateral regulatory action to apply U.S. environmental laws extraterritorially through a Foreign Environmental Pollution Prevention Act and details the proposed law. Finally, the author examines, in the context of a free-trade agreement with Mexico, the proposed act's likely effects, its benefits, and the problems it faces in implementation.