The WTO is the only international agency overseeing the rules of international trade. Its purpose is to help "trade flow smoothly, in a system based on rules, to settle trade disputes between governments, and to organise trade negotiations" (Carleton, n.d, 3) In 1998, the WTO sparked quite a controversy among the environmental groups. The WTO ruled that the "United States was wrong to prohibit shrimp imports from countries that failed to protect seat turtles from entrapment …showed first 75 words of 388 total…

…showed last 75 words of 388 total…Weinstein and Charnovitz, 2001, p1). A soft approach and excess leniency can lead to environmental damages and unhappy stakeholders. However, being too strict on the use of environmental trade raises two other problems. One is the pressure on poorer countries to adopt "standards that are ill suited to their strained economies" (Weinstein and Charnovitz, 2001, p1), and the other is the "suppression of trade that will lead to higher prices and stunted growth" (Weinstein and Charnovitz, 2001, p1).