Peru accused of cutting protection of Amazon; U.S. trade deal at risk

WASHINGTON — The United States is accusing Peru of violating its commitment to protect the Amazon rain forest from deforestation, threatening to hold Lima in violation of the 2007 United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

On Friday, Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump’s top trade negotiator, announced that he was seeking formal consultations with Peru to resolve concerns about its recent decision to curtail the authority of the country’s forestry auditor, Organismo de Supervision de los Recursos Forestales, which was established to comply with the treaty. The move prompted concern within the Trump administration — and complaint from congressional Democrats — that it would lead to more illegal logging in Peru.

“By taking this unprecedented step, the Trump administration is making clear that it takes monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade agreements seriously, including obligations to strengthen forest sector governance,” Lighthizer said in a statement.

The challenge is intended, in part, to send a signal to Democrats that the administration is willing to enforce environmental and labor provisions that are included in trade agreements. The forestry agreement was inserted into the 2007 trade agreement by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was sworn in as speaker of the House on Thursday. 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 last year.

Trump needs congressional Democrats to support the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement which has yet to pass Congress. But Democrats have questioned whether the revised deal, which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, 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.

In a letter to members of Congress last month, Lighthizer said he would request that an independent tribunal be convened — an action intended, in part, to win Democratic votes for the revised NAFTA.

“As you know, ensuring that the commitments of our trading partners are monitored and enforced is a top priority,” Lighthizer wrote to Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Lighthizer said he agreed with Neal that Peru’s decision to dismantle an agency created to stop the illegal harvesting of trees was “unacceptable.”

Lighthizer met with Pelosi last month, attempting to reassure her that the administration planned to implement a robust system of inspections at the border.

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

Peru has scaled back environmental enforcement in recent years in an attempt to attract greater foreign investment.

Last month, the Peruvian government limited the independence of the country’s forestry auditor.

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 rainforest 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.