Sustainable development calls for environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability. The concept of sustainable development is enshrined in a number of global and regional treaties, declarations, and reports such as the Brundtland Commission Report, the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Johannesburg Declaration and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and the 2000 Cotonou Agreement between African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (the Cotonou Agreement). The issues of sustainability and environmental effects of continuing industrialization have caused world leaders in the fields of politics as well as industry to pause and to examine the directions in which both politics and economics need to travel as we embark upon the Twenty First Century. It has become increasingly evident that current practices cannot be permitted to continue without substantive and drastic changes both with regard to the dominant patterns of trade and consumptions. Though several studies have been conducted on the subject, this paper examines the relationship between trade as a human activity and the environment. In an attempt to highlight some of the contending issues in the politics of sustainability and identify the missing links, the paper also reviewed the efforts made so far in incorporating sustainability in our development paradigm. Haven identified some impediments to the implementation of the principles of sustainable development, this contribution also made some suggestions and recommendations arising from the observed effects of the current patterns of trade on the environment.