Abstract

A backlash against the post-Cold War order of liberal globalization has taken hold in the rich North Atlantic countries. Concerns about wages, working conditions, and economic opportunity are central to the critique of international trade agreements of the last three decades. While labor rights have progressively been included in trade agreements, they have done little to reshape workers’ well-being and workplace conditions. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) may signal a pivot to a new model requiring reforms of domestic labor law and other issues important to workers. However, there is much more to be done to rebalance the power between capital and labor in trade agreements. In addition, for the United States and other rich countries, reform at home may be equally important.

Highlights

  • A backlash against the post-Cold War order of liberal globalization has taken hold in the rich North Atlantic countries

  • While the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) decreased the percentage of regional value content for automobiles to enjoy duty-free treatment from 62.5 percent in North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to 45 percent, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) increased it to 75 percent.[31]

  • Liberal globalization is under attack for the inequitable consequences it has generated, where the losers must fend for themselves

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Summary

Álvaro Santos*

A backlash against the post-Cold War order of liberal globalization has taken hold in the rich North Atlantic countries. Concerns about wages, working conditions, and economic opportunity are central to the critique of international trade agreements of the last three decades. While labor rights have progressively been included in trade agreements, they have done little to reshape workers’ well-being and workplace conditions. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)[1] may signal a pivot to a new model requiring reforms of domestic labor law and other issues important to workers. There is much more to be done to rebalance the power between capital and labor in trade agreements. For the United States and other rich countries, reform at home may be important

Goodbye to the Gold Standard of Liberal Globalization?
AJIL UNBOUND
Labor Reform in Mexico
REIMAGINING TRADE AGREEMENTS FOR WORKERS
Reduction of Investor Rights
Rules of Origin
Rethinking Globalization as if Workers Really Mattered
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text

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