Trade and Environmental Protection along the United States-Mexico Border

This article examines environmental protection along the US-Mexico border since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in January 1994. It first reviews the general and border-specific neoliberal arguments positing a favourable relationship between trade agreements and environmental protection. It then reviews the trajectory of environmental policy along the border, focusing on the principal institutions and programmes developed pursuant to NAFTA. The article shows that while NAFTA-derived environmental agencies and programmes have partially mitigated the adverse environmental impact of trade at the border, they have not kept pace with these developments, nor do they compensate for trade-related national security policies that hinder the implementation of environmental protection at the border.