Do unilateral trade measures really catalyze multilateral environmental agreements?

Unilateralism remains an opaque concept associated with discriminatory or coercive policy implications. Legal controversies about unilateralism have not prevented a continuing proliferation of unilateral trade measures in domestic fishery management regimes to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The widespread application of trade leverage requires a refined study of the confluence of multilateral trade and environmental governance frameworks on novel state activism. This article probes the long-running trajectory of the US Tuna and Shrimp disputes within the cross-institutional context of the World Trade Organization, multilateral environmental agreements and regional fisheries management organizations. It aims to shed new light on the nexus between unilateral trade measures and multilateral environmental agreements as an evolving and mutually adaptive process. Inspired is the critical thinking on elevating trade and environmental partnerships to coherently monitor and discipline trade unilateralism in its indirect role to ameliorate global environmental problems.