Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

In Overture to Democrats, Trump Administration May Challenge Peru on Deforestation

Agents measuring illegally cut timber from the Amazon rain forest of Brazil. Neighboring Peru has moved to dismantle its agency that stops illegal harvesting of trees in the Amazon.Credit...Vinicius Mendonza/Ibama, via Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering an international challenge to Peru’s deforestation of the Amazon, the first time the United States has prepared to act against a trading partner for violating environmental standards in a trade agreement, according to people with knowledge of the proposed action.

In a signal to Democrats that he is willing to act aggressively on issues they consider important, the United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, is considering challenging Peru’s decision to dismantle an agency created to stop the illegal harvesting of trees in the Amazon rain forest under the 2007 United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

The United States could request the convening of an independent tribunal as soon as Friday to decide the case, officials said, but cautioned that the timeline could shift.

The potential action, which comes as President Trump systematically scales back protections of wilderness areas in the United States, could have significant consequences for the new North American trade agreement under scrutiny by the incoming Democratic majority in the House.

The forestry agreement was inserted into the 2007 trade agreement by Representative Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who looks set to reclaim the speakership in January. The language is the basis for enforcement provisions of environmental and labor standards in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that the three countries settled on this year.

The new trade agreement, which would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, has yet to pass Congress, and Democrats have questioned whether the revised deal has enough teeth to force Mexico to comply with commitments to raise wages in the automotive industry. The Peru forestry annex was considered a model for a new inspection system that could include confiscation at the border of goods deemed to violate the treaty, and the prosecution of companies that import noncompliant products.

The new action is intended, in part, to show Ms. Pelosi and House Democrats that Mr. Trump is willing to take action to ensure that all provisions of the new North American treaty will be enforced to the fullest extent possible, an administration official said.

Mr. Lighthizer has spent the past week trying to contain the fallout from Mr. Trump’s announcement on Dec. 2 that he planned to withdraw from Nafta, a statement intended to pressure Democrats into passing the new agreement within the next six months.

Mr. Lighthizer met with Ms. Pelosi last week, attempting to reassure her that the administration planned to implement a robust system of inspections at the border to ensure that Mexico was complying with its labor and environmental obligations.

“While there are positive things in this proposed trade agreement, it is just a list without real enforcement of the labor and environmental protections,” Ms. Pelosi said after the meeting.

Mr. Lighthizer has persuaded Mr. Trump to delay his formal request to pull out of Nafta, according to three officials with knowledge of his actions. If he pulls the trigger, Congress would have six months to pass the enabling legislation for the new deal, or face reverting to previous trade agreements that include higher levels of tariffs.

Over the past several years, Peru has scaled back environmental enforcement in an attempt to attract foreign investment. In 2016, the Peruvian government fired the forestry organization’s director, Rolando Navarro, after timber industry executives protested the seizure of Amazonian wood by American officials.

Last week, the Peruvian government sharply curtailed the authority of the country’s forestry auditor, Organismo de Supervisión de los Recursos Forestales, which was established to comply with the treaty.

Over the past 10 years, Congress has sent Peru $90 million in aid intended to beef up enforcement. In 2015, Department of Homeland Security officials in Houston, acting on intelligence from their Peruvian counterparts, seized 1,770 metric tons of Amazon rain forest wood they found in a rusty freighter.

But since then, enforcement has waned, and illegal deforestation is increasing, according to an Associated Press investigation published in April.

House Democrats, including members who forced the Bush administration to insert the rain forest provisions into the treaty a decade ago, have protested Peru’s actions.

“The Peruvian rain forest is one of the wonders of the world,” Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee wrote in a letter to Mr. Lighthizer on Wednesday.

“We ask that U.S.T.R. continue to insist that this brazen, bad faith decision be reversed formally by the end of this week. And if it is not, then we urge the U.S.T.R. to take immediate action to enforce the existing Peru trade agreement through any and all appropriate avenues.”

Trade officials are to file a complaint with an independent tribunal established under the treaty. If the judges find in favor of the United States, Peru would have to revise its policies or face financial penalties. The action could come as early as Friday.

A spokesman for the United States trade representative did not respond to a request for comment. A call to the Peruvian Embassy in Washington was not immediately returned.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: In Overture to Democrats, Administration May Challenge Peru on Deforestation. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT