U.S. officials and corporations are worried that protestors who argue that free trade harms the environment and has other negative social effects will get too much attention at the World Trade Organization meeting to be held in Seattle in November. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) recently sent a letter to Pres. Clinton expressing “deep concern” that protestors will disrupt the talks and encouraging Clinton to give “a major pro-trade address” soon. Meanwhile, governments are jockeying to get their issues on the WTO meeting agenda. Switzerland is arguing that the WTO needs to ensure adequate environmental protections in all trading countries, while Kenya rejects that notion, writing, “To impose in low-income developing countries environmental standards prevailing in advanced countries would extinguish their comparative advantage.”
