By Kalea Hall
DETROIT, May 21 (Reuters) – United Auto Workers leaders called for stronger pay standards and mandates that carmakers build where they sell, ahead of Washington’s upcoming talks on a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
UAW President Shawn Fain and others detailed the union’s hopes for the new pact during a Thursday presentation to media.
Formal negotiations over changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are expected to start between the U.S. and Mexico next week.
• The Detroit labor group said that if pro-worker trade demands aren’t met, the U.S. government should pull out of a trade deal with the countries.
• “There’s no future for the working class that doesn’t address the free trade disaster,” Fain said during the media webinar while wearing a “Kill NAFTA” T-shirt, referring to the previous free trade deal between the three countries.
• The union recommends the expansion and enforcement of Mexico’s labor laws, raising wages in Mexico and increasing health and safety standards.
• The UAW has long viewed free trade deals as an attack on blue-collar work in America because companies have shifted jobs to lower-cost regions over the past several decades.
• A revised USMCA could include higher U.S. content requirements for vehicles crossing the border duty-free. Those rule changes could lead to high costs, more complexity, and place limits on market access, a recent report by Boston Consulting Group noted, specifically stating the repeal could add $33 billion in tariff-related costs.
• Auto trade groups this month urged President Donald Trump’s administration to extend the current deal. The countries have a July 1 review deadline for USMCA.
(Reporting by Kalea Hall; Editing by Mike Colias in Detroit and David Gregorio)