The International Trilemma of Liberalization, Security, and Sustainability
- Date
- March 26, 2026
- Time
- 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET
- Location
- POD-457
Please join us for the final edition of this year's Speaker Series with Professor Stephen Park.
Recent years have seen the growing use of unilateral trade-related measures to further geopolitical objectives on the grounds of national security. In a growing number of contexts, countries attempt to pursue geopolitical objectives in conjunction with climate action in a manner that contravenes the rules-based global trade regime. These developments involve tradeoffs between liberalization, security, and sustainability akin to a trilemma in which different policy objectives are mutually incompatible. The rules and institutions governing international trade have not yet evolved to address this sustainability trilemma. Employing comparative analysis of green industrial policies and trade-related policy measures by the United States and the European Union, Prof. Park will analyze the legal conflicts arising from the trilemma and propose measures to amend and restructure the legal architecture of the international trading system as a means to reconcile the competing incentives and imperatives posed by climate change and geopolitics.
Stephen Park is an Associate Professor of Business Law at the University of Connecticut. His research is in the areas of international economic law, corporate social responsibility and accountability, and corporate compliance, with a focus on sustainability and human rights issues in financial markets. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a M.A.L.D. in International Affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.