A Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Interpretation of the Labor-Environment Coalition in Seattle.

The coalition of North American labor unions and environmental organizations that joined in Seattle in 1999 is examined in the context of a Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson simulation in which a labor abundant developing country, with a comparative advantage in a globally polluting industry but a weak environmental policy, endeavors to export some of the output of that industry to a capital abundant industrialized country but is thwarted by a trade sanction that requires it to adopt the strong environmental policy of the industrialized country as a precondition for trade. Labor unions in the industrialized country and environmental organizations both gain when the developing country complies with the sanctions but lose out when the World Trade Organization overrules the sanctions as barriers to free trade. (JEL F11, Q25) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]