International Trade Agreements with Environmental Provisions Attract More Public Support in Both Higher- and Lower-Income Countries
2026-07-02
Controversies over the environmental implications of increased international trade in past decades, and over how effective environmental protection clauses in trade agreements are in mitigating such effects, are shaping public opinion on trade and associated agreements. Existing research offers some insight on how awareness of the environmental effects of trade influences citizens’ support. But we know very little about whether environmental clauses in trade agreements can reduce the negative effect on public support for trade that environmental problems associated with trade may have. We address these questions based on survey experiments in two higher-income (the United States, Germany) and two lower-income countries (Brazil, Vietnam) (N = 8,706 in total). Our main empirical findings are these: First, there are similar concerns over the environmental implications of trade in richer and poorer countries. Second, environmental protection clauses in trade agreements tend to increase public support for trade in countries with high and lower income levels, helping to overcome negative effects of highlighting environmental impacts.