Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said yesterday that a major lesson from last month’s failed World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle is that any new trade discussions must address the issues of environmental regulation, worker rights, and child labor. Summers made his remarks to corporate executives in Bombay, the business capital of India, an audience that doesn’t look kindly on rich nations telling developing ones how they ought to address what are seen as domestic social issues. Summers said that in the next round of WTO talks, member countries must find common ground on labor and environmental issues, “avoiding a situation where mobile capital can go shopping for the least-restrictive environmental regulations.”
