Officials Must Use July 1 USMCA Six-Year Review Ministerial Meeting to Commit to Making Major, Necessary Improvements to Pact

WASHINGTON – As United States Trade Representative Greer and the Mexican and Canadian trade ministers meet July 1 for the mandatory six-year review of the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and the presidents of United Auto Workers, Steelworkers, Machinists, and Carpenters unions urge the three countries not to extend the pact as-is, but rather to commit to making significant and necessary improvements so that USMCA benefits working people in North America. 

In 2020, when the USMCA came before Congress, some congressional Democrats and unions supported the pact and some opposed it. Today, we are united in our view that the agreement enacted in 2020 has failed to deliver improvements for American workers, family farmers, and communities nationwide. In contrast to the outcome President Trump promised in his first term, when he called USMCA the best trade deal ever, race-to-the-bottom job offshoring of U.S. jobs to Mexico has continued, the U.S. trade deficit with the NAFTA countries has gotten worse, and wages in Mexico remain 40% lower than manufacturing wages in China and 88% lower than US manufacturing wages even as the novel facility-specific Rapid Response Mechanism to enforce labor rights did deliver gains for thousands of Mexico workers whose work places were subject to winning cases. Significant improvements are needed to reverse the USMCA’s significant shortcomings. 

In 2025, Congresswoman DeLauro was joined by 105 of her House colleagues on a letter laying out some of the necessary changes.

“The time for change is now,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “I led 105 Democratic members of Congress in urging renegotiation of USMCA because it is failing American workers. Multinational corporations have continued to use the threat of offshoring as leverage against workers, the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has significantly increased, and surging USMCA imports have undermined American workers and farmers and firms in the auto sector, steel, aerospace, and more. As the American people struggle with the cost of living crisis, we need to be bringing jobs and wages back home, not sending them abroad. 

“If President Trump does not commit to renegotiating USMCA in a bipartisan fashion to strengthen worker protections, American workers will continue to pay the price. This is not the time for half measures or extensions of the status quo. Democrats are at the table, ready to fight for what American workers deserve—it is past time the President joins us.”

Statement of International Association of Machinists president Brian Bryant: “While the IAM Union strongly opposed the flawed USMCA, it was sold to working people as a replacement for NAFTA that would stop the race to the bottom and strengthen jobs across North America,” said IAM Union International President Brian Bryant. “Labor enforcement tools have helped some workers, the agreement has fallen short of delivering the broad economic gains and job security that were promised. The six-year review must be used to strengthen worker protections, close loopholes that encourage offshoring, and ensure trade policy works for workers, not just multinational corporations.”

Statement of United Steelworkers president Roxanne Brown: “USMCA has so far failed to stop the race to the bottom on wages and working conditions across North America, as greedy corporations continue to shift production to Mexico. This review represents an opportunity to help workers in all three countries, holding corporations accountable, raising wages, eliminating loopholes, and demanding consistent enforcement of labor and environmental regulations. We need an economy that works for everyone – not just the wealthy few – and our union remains committed to ensuring our trade agreements serve this goal.”

Statement of UAW President Shawn Fain: “There is no way back to the American Dream without undoing the damage of NAFTA and its successor, the USMCA. 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. NAFTA and the like 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.”

Statement of United Brotherhood of Carpenters president Doug McCarron: “USMCA’s mandatory review and redo provision was a great idea, but it only will help working people if the administration uses it now to redo the redone NAFTA so a revised USMCA can finally end what unfortunately has been continuing offshoring to exploit Mexican wages that remain 80% lower than in the U.S., a deeper trade deficit and ongoing losses in American manufacturing. USMCA was an improvement on NAFTA, but unless the 2020 deal is significantly improved, working people will continue to suffer and their communities get hollowed out, with widespread devastating results to main streets nationwide and the funds to support constriction of schools, hospitals and new homes. Fixing USMCA is vital because good trade policy is not just important to manufacturing workers, it is essential to the American working class.”