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Trade, Labour Markets and the Environment

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Trade Agreements and Public Health

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Public Health Policy Research ((PSPHPR))

Abstract

New trade agreements often include measures promising protection of labour rights and the environment. The section on labour describes how labour rights are said to be protected in such agreements and how (or if) the inclusion of these rights within trade treaties improves labour market outcomes. A key weakness in such provisions is that they become enforceable only if a country lowers its existing labour standards to gain a trade or investment advantage. The section on the environment reaches a similar conclusion. Although having some potential and healthful value, the protections such chapters are said to afford remain secondary to trade concerns. This chapter considers the broader question: are trade treaties the best place in which to locate or enforce labour and environmental protection measures?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Variously referred to as global supply chains or global value chains.

  2. 2.

    A footnote to this provision, however, states that present US hiring policies are deemed sufficient to meet the obligations of this article and that no additional action by the USA is required to be in compliance. It, thus, has no binding effect on US employment practices, an example of excluding oneself from a rule to which it is politically opposed.

  3. 3.

    This was also a side-letter requirement the USA had of Vietnam before it pulled out of the TPP agreement.

  4. 4.

    It is unlikely that Mexican automakers will opt to triple the hourly wage, rather than simply pay the US tariff (presently only 2.5% on cars, Mexico’s main automotive export) [25].

  5. 5.

    We might add that low labour cost advantage of LICs could also be re-phrased as the high-poverty legacy of colonialism, although that is a different matter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Deborah Gleeson

  2. School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Ronald Labonté

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  1. Deborah Gleeson
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Correspondence to Deborah Gleeson .

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Gleeson, D., Labonté, R. (2020). Trade, Labour Markets and the Environment. In: Trade Agreements and Public Health. Palgrave Studies in Public Health Policy Research. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0485-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0485-3_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-0484-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-0485-3

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