Did the WTO ruling go against the United States Clean Air Act. Did it lower environmental standards?
No. The ruling did not go against the US act, and it did not lower environmental standards. The issue here was discrimination unequal treatment. In the reformulated gasoline ruling, the US had every right to adopt the highest possible standard to protect its air quality. What the WTO s Appellate Body confirmed is that WTO members may enact any environmental protection legislation they choose so long as it does not discriminate against foreign imports. The US lost the case because its requirements for its own domestic gas producers were less stringent than those imposed on imported gasoline (in this case from Venezuela and Brazil) it applied its gasoline standard in a discriminatory manner. This difference in treatment (a violation of national treatment) could not be justified. The goal of WTO rulings is to encourage countries to respect the multilateral trading system s rules, which they themselves have negotiated and agreed, not to lower environmental standards.
