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The United States’ trade war has created a generational crisis for Canada and Mexico. Prime Minister Mark Carney has decided to walk away from the negotiating table, where a deal with the U.S. would have meant additional compromise and accepting devastating and illegal tariffs. Mexico, meanwhile, faces different and unique vulnerabilities to U.S. pressure and has seen its sovereignty challenged on multiple fronts. As a result, continuing negotiations remains a key priority for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum—and thus, Mexico appears closer to an agreement.
With attention focused on how Canada and Mexico address Trump’s “America First Trade Policy,” observers and participants have been less focused on how Canada and Mexico can advance a more sustainable and fair trade agenda through their bilateral relationship and the existing architecture provided by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). To do so, Canada must build on the goodwill forged through meetings between Carney and Sheinbaum, and—importantly—recommit to a pro-worker economic relationship.
Such a task does not mean overhauling trade relations between Canada and Mexico. Rather, it calls for a stronger engagement with the already existing labour commitments made by both countries since the signing of CUSMA.
Protecting workers through CUSMA
CUSMA’s unique labour provisions create a standard-setting framework for enforcing labour rights through trade agreements. CUSMA includes a labour chapter and, notably, a facility-specific Rapid Response Labour Mechanism (RRLM) which provides workers with a way to challenge companies which violate fundamental labour rights at Mexican facilities in priority trade sectors (including, among others, mining and auto parts).
Workers, unions, and NGOs from all three countries can trigger the RRLM through the U.S. or Canadian governments, which are then obligated to investigate the possible rights violation and move it forward in a timely manner. If the investigation finds violations, companies must enact a remediation plan to respect workers’ and unions’ rights. Non-compliant facilities can be subject to sanctions—making the RRLM a useful enforcement tool.
Since 2021, workers, unions, and advocacy groups have used the RRLM to enforce labour rights across dozens of facilities in Mexico. It has proved central to displacing corrupt unions that Mexico’s 2017 and 2019 constitutional and legislative reforms hoped to dismantle. While the RRLM has delivered key victories, the impact has remained focused in a few key industries and regions in Mexico. The Canadian government’s engagement with the RRLM has been mixed: while the U.S. Department of Labor has concluded 45 cases, Canada has only addressed two complaints.
To its credit, the Canadian government also sought to protect workers through technical assistance funding to help Mexico implement its recent labour reforms and CUSMA’s labour obligations. This funding included $20 million towards labour rights projects, of which $9.4 million was allocated towards two union-led and worker-focused projects—one coordinated by Unifor, and the other coordinated by the United Steelworkers Humanity Fund with participation from a variety of Canadian unions as well as the Centre International de Solidarité Ouvrière, alongside Mexican partners.
The first of these projects, the Centro de Apoyo a la Libertad Sindical (CALIS), or the Centre for the Support of Trade Union Freedom, established six worker centres across key industrial cities/regions in Mexico. These worker centres supported Mexico’s progressive independent union movement, which corrupt unions, employers, and the government had historically repressed.
The worker centres provided essential education on labour rights, unionism, and direct support for independent union organizing at facilities in their communities. Through these worker centres, the project became central to several key labour reform successes to date, including advancing RRLM complaints and supporting workers in voting out corrupt unions from their workplaces. A particularly emblematic case at a General Motors facility in Silao saw one of these worker centres become a key organizing headquarters, ultimately culminating in a victory for the newly established National Independent Union of Automobile Industry Workers (SINTTIA) over the incumbent corrupt employer-backed union. Since its initial victory at GM Silao, SINTTIA has emerged as an important success story for Mexico’s labour reform, organizing thousands of workers and negotiating fairer contracts. The Canadian government-funded project proved an important resource in the development of this democratic and independent union through these innovative worker centres.
The second project, coordinated by the United Steelworkers Humanity Fund, has also played an important role in Mexico’s labour reform. The project has funded several initiatives, including a radio broadcast through the Red de Mujeres Sindicalistas (Network of Union Women), training on gender equity and labour organizing through the Comité Fronterizo de Obreras (Border Workers Committee), establishing training programs for unionists on collective bargaining through the Frente Autentico del Trabajo (Authentic Labour Front) and a series of workshops through the Mineros union. The funding contributed to a series of victories for workers in facilities traditionally unionized by corrupt employer-backed unions which maintained low wages and minimal protections.
The success of both projects in supporting the independent labour movement in Mexico as it sought to implement the rights enshrined by Mexico’s labour reform can, and should, continue as Canada strengthens its relationship with Mexico in the years to come.
Building on this architecture to advance labour rights
Unfortunately, Canada and Mexico have, respectively, waned in their engagement to put labour rights first and foremost through their relationship. Canada’s funding for the important union-led projects ended in 2025. In Mexico, implementation of the national labour reforms has faced roadblocks as a result of major gaps in domestic labour-law enforcement and reduced funding for the newly created institutions which oversee the reforms. Under these conditions, it is unsurprising that Mexican and Canadian unionists have documented and publicized the continued prevalence of rights violations, and corrupt employer-backed unions which repress wages, protections and the voice of workers.
This should not and cannot mean a further retrenchment in labour cooperation and rights enforcement by both governments. Thankfully, putting workers first through Canada-Mexico trade relations does not have to start from ground zero; rather, it can build upon the existing frameworks and networks created by both government and civil society over the years. Leveraging CUSMA’s labour chapter and RRLM by encouraging and prioritizing the Canadian government’s receipt of labour-violation complaints is an important step towards a more sustainable trade relationship with Mexico.
CUSMA is unique in its stronger labour protections compared to standard trade agreements, which enshrine corporate rights with little attention to the workers and communities which create corporate wealth—Canada and Mexico should not shy away from leveraging this. Therefore, a few initial steps to improve labour rights through Canada’s relationship with Mexico are to first strengthen our engagement with the RRLM and second, to launch a new cycle of funding for union-led projects such as those discussed above that encourage labour cooperation and deliver concrete outcomes for workers.
CUSMA is not the only framework for advancing such an agenda, as the 2025-2028 Canada-Mexico Action Plan launched as part of the two countries’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership outlines labour cooperation as a key feature of the two nations’ relationship moving forward. The action plan highlights that “Canada and Mexico will continue to advance labour rights protections through targeted initiatives that promote workers’ rights, strengthen labour justice institutions, improve social dialogue, and enhance compliance with international labour standards.”
With the action plan already underway, Canada must take seriously this important shared priority with Mexico and recommit resources to the RRLM and union-led projects which have demonstrated the success of transnational labour cooperation.
The next 10 years of CUSMA
Worker-friendly trade, too, means expanding, not just replicating, the standards set by CUSMA and the Canada-Mexico Action Plan. With President Trump declining to renew CUSMA for an additional 16 years and thus triggering annual joint reviews of the agreement for the next 10 years, Canada should seize on the opportunity to strengthen the agreement’s labour commitments. As long as the agreement remains in place, it should remain a tool at Canada’s disposal for enforcing labour rights.
In order to do this, Canada and Mexico must strengthen, not just fulfill, CUSMA’s labour commitments, and address ongoing gaps in the RRLM’s enforcement capabilities—including expanding the scope of rights protected by the mechanism and broadening its enforcement to all export sectors between the three countries, including at facilities in Canada and the United States. Sharpening this tool will help protect North American workers from unfair labour practices and the economic uncertainty created by Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.
Put simply, Canada must not leave workers vulnerable by ignoring the importance of labour cooperation and enforcement through our relationship with Mexico, or by shirking the hard but essential work of building on the earlier progress forged by CUSMA.
