UAW Outlines Vision for Pro-Worker Trade Deal as USMCA Renegotiation Deadline Approaches

In a new white paper, “Trade and the American Dream: NAFTA, the USMCA, and the Future of the Working Class,” the UAW outlines a bold new vision for pro-worker trade policy amid the backdrop of United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) renegotiations.

To read the white paper, visit UAW.org/trade

“There is no way back to the American Dream without undoing the damage of NAFTA and its successor, the USMCA,” writes UAW President Shawn Fain. “There is no future for the U.S. working class that doesn’t address the free trade disaster. Progressives and working-class allies need to understand that trade is at the heart of the rise of global authoritarianism, wealth inequality, and the political weakness of the working class.”

“The moral vision of a society where working-class people reclaim their dignity relies on reining in the rising billionaire dictatorship,” Fain continues. “NAFTA and similar trade agreements are the social contract as written by multinational corporations. It’s time we rip it up and start over and take back the American Dream.”

The white paper outlines the problems at the heart of the so-called “free trade” regime, and the impacts of free trade on the working class across borders. The union makes bold demands to radically transform the system of North American trade:

• Build Here to Sell Hereprovisions ensuring that companies create and keep good jobs in the United States if they want to sell in the U.S. market. 
• Real Labor Rightsthat are enforceable and apply to workers in all three countries. 
• Strong Standards on Pay & Other Key Issues, including a new Manufacturing Wage Floor for North America and strict health and environmental protections.

If these standards are not met, the United States should withdraw from the USMCA.

Parties to the USMCA are convening on July 1, a key deadline in the renegotiation process. The UAW has called for either a dramatic transformation of the agreement or, failing that, U.S. withdrawal from the deal. 

For more information, visit UAW.org/trade

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