The status quo trade model incentivizes corporations to move production offshore and simultaneously undermines common sense environmental public policies during an international energy crisis.
For example, the travel of food products from the farms to consumers is 25 percent farther now than it was in the 1980s, before NAFTA and WTO-style trade agreements. The energy it takes to transport products from production site to consumers is increasing as corporations seeking cheap labor and lax regulatory frameworks are incentivized by NAFTA/WTO-style trade agreements to move production halfway around the world.
Additionally, trade rules found in NAFTA -style agreements undermine commonsense domestic energy policymaking by making new policies, specifically ones that prioritize energy independence, subject to challenge by foreign corporations who do not wish to comply.
Trade and Global Warming: What Are the Connections? Sierra Club, April, 2008