Hacia vínculos efectivos entre la política comercial estadounidense y la capacidad para el desarrollo ambiental

Abstract

United States’ trade policy provides the opportunity for countries to link trade agreements with cooperation commitments to help poor countries tackle such basic sustainable development needs as waste treatment and potable water deliver systems. U.S. government agencies have made significant organizational progress to link trade liberalization with efforts to build the technical capacity of U.S. trading partners to take full advantage of trade liberalization. However, before U.S. trade capacity building assistance can be better targeted to improve people’s lives through trade, the United States and its trading partners must address a number of weaknesses in the current approach to trade–related technical assistance. Assistance must be broadened to include trade–related social and environmental infrastructure, which is vital to making broad improvements in living standards. Responsibility for formulating and prioritizing needs for capacity building ultimately rests with developing country recipients, but the United States can and should do more to explain the key opportunity trade related technical assistance offer to forge positive linkages among trade, environment, and development.