The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) fights to place American workers and businesses first in U.S. trade deals. We require countries that want access to U.S. markets and foreign investment to comply with international labor standards. This ensures U.S. workers and businesses don’t have to compete against bad actors who profit from cheap, exploited labor.

ILAB oversees labor provisions in U.S. trade deals, preference programs, and other multilateral investments. We work with our trade partners to make sure they follow the rules, and we use every tool at our disposal to protect American jobs and enterprises from unfair competition abroad.

Here’s how we do it:

  • We fight for American workers and American jobs by demanding fair treatment in trade deals and rejecting trade partner labor practices that suppress wages and abuse workers.
  • We negotiate high labor standards into trade deals, so U.S. workers aren’t undercut by foreign labor abuses that cost them wages or jobs.
  • We direct trade partner investments in the United States toward American workers, including workforce development.
  • We track our trade partners closely to make sure they’re living up to their labor commitments.
  • We hold trade partners accountable when they break the rules—either by working with them directly or through strong enforcement actions.
  • We build trade partners’ abilities to play fair and help them improve their labor protections and enforcement—so they can root out bad actors that use exploitative practices to gain an advantage in trade.

Trade Agreements

U.S. trade agreements include labor provisions that ILAB monitors for compliance. In some cases, stakeholders—workers and unions, businesses, and governments—may file formal complaints when countries fail to meet their labor commitments. American and foreign organizations—as well as the U.S. government—can initiate a complaint that can result in calling out bad behavior and demanding remediation. Even where a trade agreement does not have a formal complaint process, stakeholders may raise concerns directly with ILAB regarding labor practices and potential failures to meet labor commitments. ILAB reviews every labor complaint and uses this process to push for change that protects the interests of American workers and businesses.

  • Learn how to file a complaint under most trade agreements
  • Learn how to file a complaint or submit a hotline tip under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated during the first Trump Administration, which has first-of-its-kind mechanisms to rapidly address unfair labor practices at specific facilities.

Trade Preference Programs

These programs give defined trade benefits to certain developing countries—but only if they uphold basic labor standards. It’s how we make sure U.S. workers and businesses are competing on a level global playing field. If a country wants access to the U.S. market—the largest in the world—they must play by the rules. ILAB helps enforce these rules and ensures that trade partners live up to the standards set by Congress. The trade preference programs we oversee give us leverage to demand better treatment of workers abroad—so American workers aren’t put at an unfair disadvantage.

Other Economic Agreements and Tools

We work with other countries to make sure labor rights are part of broader economic partnerships and investment agreements and identify opportunities to house global supply chains in the United States for the benefit of American workers. For example, we home in on sectors where American workers face unfair competition, like fishing and critical minerals, and harness U.S. government resources to eliminate anticompetitive labor practices.

Multilateral Development Bank Financing

When the World Bank and other global financial institutions fund big projects, we step in to make sure they do not subsidize weak labor standards. We fight for fair treatment, safe workplaces, and labor standards in line with our own—so taxpayer-supported international loans don’t hurt U.S. workers, prop up our adversaries, or give unfair advantages to foreign companies (including state-owned enterprises) that cut corners on labor.