“A Pro-Worker Trade Agreement for North America
In 2026, all three countries in the USMCA must decide whether or not to renew the deal. The UAW believes we need a top-to-bottom revamp of the USMCA to protect workers and finally end the corporate race to the bottom. A new North American trade deal must include three core objectives:
1. Build Here to Sell Here provisions ensuring that companies create and keep good jobs in the United States if they want to sell in the U.S. market. A new trade deal should reward companies for investing in America while punishing firms with targeted tariffs and other measures if they offshore work. And it’s essential to pair those measures with strategic industrial policies that bolster U.S. manufacturing.
2. Real Labor Rights that are enforceable and apply to workers in all three countries. That means guaranteeing their right to form independent unions, and requiring companies to be neutral during a union election. Products that receive tariff relief must be built in plants that respect workers’ rights and pay a living wage. There must be serious consequences, including targeted tariffs, for companies and countries that abuse workers.
3. Strong Standards on Pay & Other Key Issues, including a new Manufacturing Wage Floor for North America. The new wage floor would provide a straightforward way to strengthen pay for manufacturing workers in all three countries. It would also allow the overly complex and readily ignored LVC rules to be scrapped. In addition to improving pay, we also must set strong, enforceable standards that protect the environment and workers’ health and safety.

“None of these ideas are radical. They are, in fact, the building blocks of the American Dream that workers
enjoyed for decades. Trade is just one part of the dream, but it’s a crucial one. If we can end the free trade disaster once and for all, we’ll be neutralizing a brutal union-busting weapon and raising living standards and bargaining power for workers everywhere.

“We believe all three core objectives are achievable. But if these standards are not met, the United States
should withdraw from the USMCA,” the UAW said.