The steady decline of trade barriers accompanying the wave of globalization over the last two decades has boosted production as well as income generation. This spiralling growth-production-trade relationship is continuously putting pressure on environmental resources, making pollution abatement a bone of contention amongst the developed and the developing nations. This short introduction initiates readers to the highly contentious relationship between trade and environment. Using specific case studies, especially the Indian experience, it examines the impact of trade liberalization on the level of pollution, on the one hand, and the impact of environmental regulations on the pattern of trade and foreign investment, on the other.