To comply, Washington revised regulations under the Clean Air Act, which environmentalists took as evidence that the nation was weakening its clean-air standards to accommodate dirtier gasoline from Venezuela. America also lost a case brought by five Asian nations, which challenged the U.S. law requiring them to use a particular trap-door device to allow endangered sea turtles to escape from nets used to catch shrimp. The WTO found no fault with the law but said America had unfairly helped Caribbean shrimpers, but not Asian shrimpers, to make the transition. Washington agreed to revise its regulations and establish guidelines for assessing other turtle-saving devices. Environmentalists objected to what they viewed as a WTO attack on the U.S. right to pass laws protecting endangered sea turtles.
Opponents also cite two hot cases in Europe, both challenges brought by the U.S. government.
Even though the United States does not grow bananas, U.S. trade officials challenged a European law that favored imports of bananas from former colonies in the Caribbean. And last summer the WTO ruled that Europeans should not block the import of hormone-fed beef, despite public concerns about safety. Although Europeans could not prove that hormone-fed U.S. beef was unsafe, they chose to flout the ruling. Washington retaliated with bans on imports of cheese and other products from Europe, causing angry farmers to attack McDonald's in France. For the moment, the movement against free trade seems to have little traction in the United States.