I think free trade agreements do offer an opportunity to make sure there are improved environmental protections that go hand in hand with more liberalized trade.
In terms of making progress, unfortunately, I see this trade agreement--if it's like the Peru one, given what I've seen there in terms of the environment--as a step backward. If you look at what Europe does in regard to its economic integration, there are European-wide rules. Now that took an evolution. It took a lot of time to get there--50 years.
We are not headed in that direction with this kind of agreement, in my view. I just don't see the stepping stones there. And if you look at NAFTA as the beginning point, it really looks like a step backward to me. We're moving away from those kinds of “fair playing field oriented” rules.
I think it's important to put these agreements into the big picture. What's the overall vision of where this is headed? Are all these little agreements going to be pieced together in some big, integrated America? If that's the case, what kind of environmental regime are we talking about? We need to be working toward a meaningful level of environmental harmonization. I just don't see that in this case.