| ASEAN | Association of South-East Asian Nations |
| BIT | Bilateral Investment Treaty |
| CAFTA-DR | Central America – U.S. – Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement |
| CARIFORUM | The Caribbean Forum |
| CEC | (North American) Commission on Environmental Cooperation |
| CETA | (Canada-EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement |
| CITES | Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora |
| CSR | corporate social responsibility |
| EC | European Commission |
| ECA | environmental cooperation agreement |
| EFTA | Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Kingdom of Norway and the Swiss Confederation |
| EIA | environmental impact assessment |
| EPA | economic partnership agreement |
| EU | European Union |
| FET | fair and equitable treatment |
| FTA | Free trade agreement |
| FTAA | Free Trade Area of the Americas |
| GATS | General Agreement on Trade in Services |
| GATT | General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade |
| ICC | international criminal code |
| ICSID | International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes |
| IIA | international investment agreement |
| IISD | International Institute for Sustainable Development |
| IP | intellectual property |
| IPFSD | Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development |
| IPR | intellectual property right |
| ISDS | investor–state dispute settlement |
| MEA | multilateral environmental agreement |
| MFN | most-favoured nation |
| MST | minimum standard of treatment |
| NAAEC | North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation |
| NAFTA | North American Free Trade Agreement |
| RTIA | regional trade and investment agreement |
| SADC | Southern African Development Community |
| SDG | Sustainable Development Goals |
| SPS | sanitary and phytosanitary |
| TEPAC | U.S. Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee |
| TiSA | Trade in Services Agreement |
| TPP | Trans-Pacific Partnership |
| TRIMs | Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures |
| TRIPs | Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights |
| TTIP | Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership |
| UNCITRAL | United Nations Commission on International Trade Law |
| UPOV | International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants |
| U.S. | United States |
| USTR | United States Trade Representative |
| WTO | World Trade Organization |