International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Trade and Labor

25 posts

Fit for Whose Purpose?: How Panelists Interpret Labor Rights in Trade, and What That Tells Us about the Trade/Labor Relationship

While many of us were celebrating the holidays with family, an important law review article dropped silently and inconspicuously into the fray. That article, Fit for Purpose: The Extent and Enforcement of International Trade Agreement Labor Obligations After Guatemala – Labor Obligations Decision, was written by Professor Kevin Banks, who served

Katherine Tai on Labor Issues in the USMCA and at the WTO

In a speech today to the AFL-CIO, U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai said the following: The USMCA agreement is a good example of what can happen when labor is at the table. It’s not perfect, but because we collaborated closely with President Trumka and many of the union

Biden’s Worker-Centered Trade Policy: Whose Workers?

As Simon mentioned in an earlier post, various labor-related complaints and requests under USMCA are “heating up.” This activity reinforces the Biden Administration’s new “worker-centered trade policy” that, according to USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai, “will foster broad-based, equitable growth, increase innovation, and give workers a seat at the table.

Katherine Tai on the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism Developments

U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee today on the Biden administration's trade agenda. She was asked about the USMCA rapid response labor cases I noted in my previous post: Senator Brown: Let me talk about what you would expect me

USMCA Labor Complaints Are Heating Up

On Monday, the AFL-CIO and some other groups announced the filing of a petition under the USMCA rapid response labor mechanism (for background on this procedure, see Kathleen's post here). Now today, USTR announced that it has initiated a request for review under that mechanism on a different

Guest Post: The Panel Report under the EU-Korea Trade Agreement Concerning Labor Practices: What are the Purposes of Trade Agreements as they Relate to the ILO’s Fundamental Labor Rights?

This is a guest post from Cornell professor Desiree LeClercq: In recent years, workers’ rights advocates have increasingly urged the US and the EU to strengthen the commitments under the labor chapters of their trade agreements. Following up on the innovative labor mechanisms in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

The Labor Provisions in the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

The EU has published a number of parts of the text of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) here. The "Investment and Sustainable Development" section is here. This is the substantive language on labor rights: Sub-Section 3 – Investment and Labour Article 1: Right to regulate The Parties

The U.S. Rebuttal Submission in the CAFTA Labor Case: In a Manner Affecting Trade

The U.S. - Guatemala CAFTA labor case is heating up. I'm going to raise the "in a manner affecting trade" issue once again. Recall that CAFTA Article 16.2.1(a) says: A Party shall not fail to effectively enforce its labor laws, through a

The CAFTA Labor Dispute: Guatemala's Submission

USTR has posted Guatemala's first written submission in the labor complaint the U.S. brought against Guatemala. (Thanks to Ryan Rainey of Inside US Trade for the tip). There are some interesting issues in there. I'll mention a couple. Role of precedent from other areas of

The CAFTA Labor Complaint Against Guatemala

The U.S. complaint against Guatemala for failure to enforce labor laws -- mentioned here -- seems to be going forward. The first U.S. written submission is now online here. Here's an excerpt: 2. This submission demonstrates that Guatemala has breached its obligation under Article 16.2.