Foreign and trade ministers from several developing countries, led by Malaysia, are pushing for the world’s industrialized nations to give up their requests that environmental and labor standards be made part of international trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization. At a meeting in Brunei of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the developing nations are arguing that such standards would undermine their ability to take advantage of their biggest assets — natural resources and cheap labor. Ministers at the APEC meeting called today for a new global round of trade talks to be launched “at the earliest opportunity,” following up on the failed trade talks held last year in Seattle, which were disrupted by environmentalists and other protestors who argued that trade must be made more friendly to the environment and working people around the world.
