The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the first international
trade treaty to explicitly incorporate a process to accommodate political a
spects of the natural environment. It does this primarily through the creat
ion of the NAFTA Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC), but also th
rough associated committees and regulations. In this paper we use "regime"
analysis from political science to assess these institutional aspects of NA
FTA as they affect the strategics of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Ne d
raw out implications for public policy and corporate strategy based on exte
nsive interviews of relevant government and business leaders; as well as se
nior bureaucrats involved in the administration of NAFTA trade and environm
ent policy.