Environmental Sanctions in American Foreign Policy

　

Elizabeth DeSombre

　

Abstract

　

In Chapter 9, Elizabeth DeSombre examines environmental sanctions in American foreign policy. The United States has threatened import restrictions for environmental reasons more often than any other country, with good success generally in accomplishing its stated goals. What appears to be a simple and effective foreign policy tool, however, represents in origin and implementation a number of domestic battles. The sanctions that result take a form that, while predictable, no individual proponent would have designed.  DeSombre's chapter examines the conflicts present at three stages of U.S. environmental sanctions: their origin, application, and effects. Each of these stages represents a conflict between a set of actors, the outcome of which influences the shape of the sanctions. At the initial stage, the conflict is between environmentalists and industry actors, who each want foreign environmental policy to be used for different ends. Resulting policy takes the form of import restrictions that deny access to U.S. markets to those countries that act in ways the United States deems environmentally unfriendly. This protects U.S. industries from products that are made in ways that do not require the same regulations the Americans must follow. Although Congress passes these sanctions, executive branch agencies typically drag their feet when implementing trade restrictions, often interpreting their mandate as narrowly as possible, or even refusing to use the restrictions at all. As a result, a number of the environmental sanctions have been fought in U.S. courts. Congress will sometimes modify its original legislation to limit the discretion agencies have in imposing sanctions. Once the sanctions have been threatened or imposed, the struggle is with the target countries that resist taking the action that is demanded of them. DeSombre shows that some of the domestic characteristics that influenced the shape of the sanctions also relate to the likelihood that the sanctions will achieve U.S. goals.