Trade, tariffs and industry

Executive Order 13141: Environmental Review of Trade Agreements

President: Bill Clinton

Made written environmental review a regular part of developing major US trade agreements and required public participation.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13141 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13141 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13141 do?

EO 13141 requires environmental review for comprehensive multilateral rounds, bilateral or plurilateral free-trade agreements and major natural-resource trade liberalization agreements with reasonably foreseeable significant effects. USTR and the Council on Environmental Quality issued guidelines in 2000. USTR continues to describe the order and guidelines as the framework for reviews, including the final USMCA environmental review.

Administration position: A review informs trade policy and public participation; it is not itself an environmental permit, a guarantee of a particular negotiating outcome or a substitute for statutes that independently apply.
SignedNovember 16, 1999
Joint oversightUSTR and CEQ
Guidelines issuedDecember 2000

Before and after

Before the order

Environmental analysis of trade agreements occurred without one enduring government-wide executive framework.

After the order

Major negotiations entered a structured review process with scoping, public comments and a published final assessment.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
USTR and CEQOversee the framework and maintain guidelinesContinuing
Lead trade agenciesConduct reviews early enough to inform negotiationsContinuing
PublicComment on scope and likely effectsAgreement-specific

What happened next

EO 13141 established the review policy.

USTR and CEQ published implementing guidelines.