White House, Union Leaders Spar Over Labor Proposal In NATFA Talks

The Trump administration this week touted an effort to bolster labor protections in a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement.

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The Trump administration this week touted an effort to bolster labor protections in a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement.

But union leaders in the U.S. and Canada said the proposal fell short and would fail to address the labor issues β€” primarily low wages in Mexico β€” already impacting the pact between the three nations.

The text of the labor measure was not available, but The Wall Street Journal detailed the back-and-forth over the provision on Tuesday.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the language called for respecting collective-bargaining agreements and other labor standards, while union officials argued that it mirrored the unsatisfactory labor protections in the Trans-Pacific Partnership β€” which President Trump abandoned during the early days of his administration.

Canadian officials and bipartisan leaders in Congress each made labor standards a priority for the NAFTA talks after numerous companies shifted jobs to Mexico during the pact's first two decades.

β€œWe need to fix the labor issues or the deal isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” said Jerry Dias, the head of Canadian trade union Unifor.

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