International trade has become the main way to allocate goods and services in a globalised World. This World is menaced by an ecological crisis whose origins are based on the negative impacts of economic activity on the environment. The economic literature has define, even if not on a univocal way, the impacts of free trade on the environment. On the base of a revision of these works, the present work aims to inquire into the necessity of implementing an environmental regulation of international trade analysing then, the perception that world economy policy makers have on this problem. The study is closed with a discussion about international trade policy in a context in which there is a lack of regulatory and institutional frameworks to coordinate economic policy in the areas of trade, environment and development, even if this may be imperative to reach, in a global dimension, the preservation of ecological assets.