Environmental Defense Opposes Trade Promotion Authority For Admin.

Environmental Defense today called on Congress to deny the Bush administration’s request for “fast track” trade promotion authority.

“The administration’s rejection of the Kyoto accord on climate change cast legitimate doubts on the administration’s ability to ensure that global environmental protections are integrated into our globalizing markets,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp, who serves on the President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, America’s top independent advisory panel on trade.

“Environmental Defense supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and has traditionally been supportive of freer trade, but expanding trade without any limits to protect the environment is bad for Earth,” said Krupp. “The global market can be an engine for environmental change, if the right standards are in place, and the Kyoto treaty would harness the power of the market and bring industrialized and developing countries together to solve global warming — the most pressing environmental problem of our time. The Bush administration’s continued unwillingness to build on this treaty and be a leader in solving global warming makes it impossible for Environmental Defense to support unfettered presidential authority on trade.”