Memo Mandates Updated UFLPA Strategy, More Diplomacy for Worker Rights

The White House said it will ask the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to "pursue effective and meaningful remediation of labor rights violations or to address gaps in labor rights protections," and asked USTR and the Department of Labor to develop new tools and strategies to address these gaps.

The executive memo on U.S. promotion of labor rights abroad was released Nov. 16, after prominent Democratic senators complained that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework was neglecting labor rights in its trade provisions.

The memo says that CBP, USTR and Labor "shall continue to prioritize, build upon, and increase initiatives to improve labor-related compliance with United States trade laws, including those related to preference programs and general enforcement, United States customs laws, and trade agreements or the labor provisions of other economic frameworks or agreements in which the United States participates."

It asked the Treasury and State departments to use their authorities to combat human rights abuses "such as forced labor, child labor, and related abuses in global supply chains. These Secretaries shall consider, as appropriate, whether to exchange information with allies and partners to facilitate similar actions."

The memo directs the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) to update its strategy under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. "The FLETF and its member and observer agencies shall continue efforts to develop, manage, and review recommendations for additions to the UFLPA Entity List and shall consider requests for removals and technical corrections, as appropriate. The Secretary of Homeland Security, as Chair of FLETF, shall work with the heads of all FLETF member and observer agencies to assess resource requirements to further support robust UFLPA implementation," the memo says.

The president said labor rights are key to national economic security.

"Agencies engaged abroad shall consider appropriate responses to international anti-worker and anti-union harassment from government, private, and extralegal actors, including the use of spurious lawsuits; and violence, including deploying the full range of diplomatic and assistance tools and, as appropriate, financial sanctions, trade penalties, visa restrictions, and other actions, consistent with agency missions," the memo said.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler lauded the "Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards," which she said will reshape American diplomacy.

"This new strategy is a major victory for workers everywhere," she wrote. "This framework will leverage diplomacy to promote internationally recognized labor rights and worker organizing; create measures that enable swift responses to violence and threats against trade union leaders, activists and organizations; improve the capacity of U.S. agencies and foreign missions to engage with workers and their representatives to improve the lives of working people; and enhance and enforce fair trade practices."

USTR Katherine Tai said the memo shows the administration understands that "in an interconnected economy, the rights of workers around the world impact workers in the United States, too."

Tai said at the memo's announcement that the USMCA rapid response mechanism has gotten Mexican workers rehired after being fired for union activities, and that it has helped unions win new contracts with significant pay increases.

"And we are embedding our focus on benefiting workers in our new trade initiatives, developing and negotiating the highest labor standard trade agreement texts ever developed, and not settling for watered down results that prioritize more trade over worker-centered trade," she said.