Catherwood LibraryILR School

Officials from Canada, the US, and Mexico begin negotiations to reform NAFTA in Ottawa this Tuesday. Labor union leaders from Canadian and US are critical of the current provisions of NAFTA, which they say have allowed Corporations to earn high profits from Mexico’s lax labor standards while undercutting workers in the northern countries. The Trump administration is pushing for more substantial US content in autos, pointing to the offshoring of auto production to the two other member countries’ as the main source of trade the US deficit with Canada and Mexico. In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday, President Jerry Dias of Canada’s UNIFOR union called for greater protection of workers’ rights under NAFTA, and expressed concern that the U.S. proposal is subject major limitations and fails to provide fundamental changes to NAFTA.