Do environmental implications of international trade influence public support for economic globalization? And under what conditions do environmental considerations shape individuals’ trade attitudes and policy preferences? In this study, we examine the microfoundations of the trade–environment nexus based on survey-embedded experiments in six OECD countries. Our empirical findings demonstrate that environmental implications have a substantial causal effect on public opinion about international trade. Furthermore, our results indicate that citizens are similarly sensitive to both domestic and international environmental implications of trade. These findings suggest that there is probably sufficient public support for green economy policies that take into account the global rather than only national environmental impacts from trade when designing trade policies.

Many political leaders of the Global South oppose linkages between trade liberalization and environmental protection. We field-tested a combination of surveys and conjoint experiments in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Vietnam to examine whether citizens in developing countries share this position. The results show that citizens do not view economic integration and environmental protection as a trade-off. To the contrary, individuals with greener preferences are more supportive of trade liberalization. Furthermore, and in contrast to prevailing government rhetoric, the majority of citizens support environmental clauses in trade agreements. These findings suggest that there might be room for more ambitious efforts to include environmental standards in international trade agreements.