How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will—and Won’t—Protect Wildlife
New 12-country trade deal has protections for wildlife built in, but it’s unclear if they’ll be enforced.
On the first Monday in October, the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries announced they’d reached an agreement on a sweeping free-trade deal that’s been in the works since President Barack Obama’s first term. On Thursday, the final text became public. The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s goal is to make trade among these countries easier. But there’s one type of trade the countries are expected to restrict: the illegal wildlife trade.
The Obama Administration is using these wildlife and environmental provisions as a selling point to try to boost Americans’ support for the agreement. Promoting the deal in May from the Nike headquarters, in Oregon, Obama said:
“It’s got strong, enforceable provisions on the environment, helping us to do things that
