As incomes rise, controlling pollution becomes relatively more affordable. The same expansion of economic activity that creates pollution ultimately pays for its alleviation. Trade sanctions aimed at improving environmental standards, like those tied to labor, would arouse resentment in the targeted country while slowing the growth that makes higher standards possible. Differing regulations are a normal part of the trade landscape. They reflect the varied preferences that societies have in choosing between the potential social benefits of more regulation, on the one hand, and more opportunity and disposable income on the other.
Most policy makers understand that competition in the market place is a good thing.
It breaks down monopolies and encourages efficiency and rational decision making. Countries that trade with each other remain free to enact different regulations on labor and the environment. Free trade and mobile capital can place a more accurate, and perhaps higher, price on regulations, but they do not force governments to adopt a single standard, whether higher or lower. It would be folly to try to force developing countries to act as though they were richer by threatening trade sanctions that will only make them poorer.