{
  "id": "RS20417",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS20417",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 102752,
      "date": "1999-12-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:40:06.396941",
      "title": "Environment and the World Trade Organization (WTO) at Seattle: Issues and Concerns",
      "summary": "As the United States prepared for the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization\n(WTO)\nin Seattle, Washington, held November 30 - December 3, 1999, environmental issues were once\nagain a focus of attention. This meeting of the decision making body of the WTO was expected to\nmake decisions that would lead to another round of negotiations on a wide variety of trade rules and\nrelated issues. Although the United States continues to assert the necessity of pursuing the twin\ngoals of free trade and environmental protection and to argue that these need not be in conflict,\ncontroversy remains over how the multilateral trading system should address the specifics of\nenvironmental issues. Widespread demonstrations and events in Seattle by non-governmental\norganizations (NGOs) across a wide spectrum of interests involved many environmental NGOs. \nThe environmental interest groups have expressed a variety of concerns, from opposing the WTO\naltogether, to trying to assure inclusion of specific environmental issues in the Seattle agenda and\nin subsequent negotiations. Opposition to including environmental issues in WTO negotiations has\nalso been strong, coming from many business groups and developing countries, who argue that these\nconcerns should be addressed outside the WTO. While the demonstrations in Seattle received a\ngreat deal of attention, the specifics of the environmental issues did not-either in coverage of the\ndemonstrations, or in the official discussions of the WTO ministerial meetings. These meetings\nterminated without resolving whether or when a new round of negotiations would ensue. How the\nWTO will deal with environmental issues in this process in the future remains uncertain.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RS20417",
          "sha1": "24152af0b466dfaee605ae9c8582913865168ab6",
          "filename": "files/19991221_RS20417_24152af0b466dfaee605ae9c8582913865168ab6.pdf",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/19991221_RS20417_24152af0b466dfaee605ae9c8582913865168ab6.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Environmental Policy"
  ]
}