There has been a notable shift in the World Trade Organization’s willingness to consider sustainability practices in concert with ensuring as-free-as-possible trade amongst the many nations. In some cases, the concerns for sustainable practices may even outweigh the ideals of free trade. The author notes two cases: Tuna-Dolphin and EU Seals. Often in these cases of environmental concern, the case rests on the interpretation of an article of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. From the tone and context provided in the text, the reliance on this article to ensure that sustainable practices seem at best shoehorned in. Ultimately, there must be the allowance for more international regulations to ensure that sustainable practices can be held up as the ideal action in these administrative disputes. Essentially, nearly every nation is a signatory to international agreements including the Paris Climate Accords, there should then be further and wider-reaching regulations at the WTO and related organizations to ensure that the ideals of these agreements are borne out. There are many examples where practices, especially in livestock and fishing practices are not especially sustainable. Without the existence of the shoehorned precedence at the WTO, these actors may have little barriers to continuing these unsustainable practices. It must become a priority of the international community to allow the WTO and the GATT to become more robust in the allowing sustainable practices to be weighed against freer-trade goals.
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