[CTC] Labor Caucus Calls for Stronger Labor Standards in USMCA Joint Review

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://laborcaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/labor-caucus-calls-for-stronger-labor-standards-in-usmca-joint-review

Labor Caucus Calls for Stronger Labor Standards in USMCA Joint Review
November 4, 2025
Press Release <https://laborcaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases>

*WASHINGTON, D.C.* – Today, Labor Caucus Co-Chairs *Reps. Debbie Dingell
(MI-06), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), and Steven Horsford
(NV-04) *led 65 House Democrats in a letter urging US Trade Representative
Greer to use the 2026 joint review of the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA) to improve labor standards and address the continued
offshoring of good jobs.

“As part of the Joint Review, we urge you to use this process to improve
labor standards under the USMCA and address the continued offshoring of
good jobs and critical productive capacity so that the Agreement truly
supports American workers,” *wrote the lawmakers*. “The USMCA was an
improvement over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as it
relates to labor standards for workers across North America, but the
Agreement was always intended to be a floor, and not a ceiling.”

“Indeed, despite those improvements, the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico
still increased by nearly 75 percent to $172 billion since 2019 (the last
year before the USMCA came into force),” *continued the lawmakers*. In
autos, the trade imbalance between the US and Mexico has increased by $30.9
billion or 34% between 2018 and 2023. As we approach the first Joint Review
of the USMCA, it is clear that significantly more action is needed to
address the offshoring of American jobs and to address the race to the
bottom in worker wages, rights, and working conditions.”

“Accordingly, we urge you to use the 2026 Joint Review process to
comprehensively address the issues of the offshoring of american jobs,
closing the wage gap, Mexican labor law reform and technical assistance
funding, strengthening and expanding the rapid response mechanism, fully
enforcing forces labor import ban, cracking down non chinese investments
and transshipments in Mexico, strengthening rules of origin and clarifying
the country of origin labeling,” *concluded the lawmakers*.

A full copy of the letter can be found here
<https://laborcaucus.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/laborcaucus.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/final-clc-usmca-joint-review-comment-letter-11.3.25.pdf>.
The letter was signed by 69 House Democrats.

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