Trade and Climate Protection Must Go Hand-in-Hand

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade accord that failed to address the urgency of combating dangerous climate change.

Trade leads to greater industrial activity and transportation, which – left unchecked – means more carbon emissions.

The following is a statement from Jake Schmidt, managing director of the International Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

“Given the urgency of climate change and the scale of international cooperation needed to address it, any new trade agreement must include climate provisions and a pledge to adhere to the Paris accord. Lawmakers made clear during the short debate for this pact that they understand the urgency of the crisis and won’t agree to future agreements that don’t clear this basic threshold.

“We look forward to working with members of Congress and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to ensure environmental and climate measures get the attention they deserve in any future negotiations.”

For more detail, please see this blog by Amanda Maxwell, director of NRDC’s Latin America Project: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/amanda-maxwell/usmca-huge-missed-opportunity-act-climate

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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.​