Abstract: With the development of economic globalization and industrial modernization， the problems of environmental pollution and transboundary pollutants have become diverse and serious. Given the lack of supernational organizations， cooperation is considered an effective way to solve the global environmental predicament. Based on the game theory， an analysis framework relevant to regional trade and environment is established. It is proven that the mechanism could not only ensure international trade profits but also effectively tackle the “hitchhike” behaviors in the process of regional environmental cooperation. Furthermore， it could effectively encourage the regional environmental governance， thus promoting the regional environmental cooperation. The empirical research on Northeast Asia shows that the efforts to increase the proportion of intraregional trade might be an effective means to promote the regional environmental cooperation.

Key words: Northeast Asia, environmental cooperation, game analysis