ILAB's work helps level the playing field for U.S. workers by ensuring that our trade partners do not lower labor standards as a means of attracting trade and investment.

Our Role

ILAB promotes a strong U.S. trade policy by:

  • Negotiating robust labor provisions in new trade and investment agreements, and enforcing the eligibility criteria of trade preference programs, as well as in the guidelines governing lending by multilateral development banks and international financial institutions;  
  • Enforcing the labor provisions of U.S. free trade agreements and trade preference programs to ensure that no country gains an unfair advantage; and
  • Building the capacity of other countries to enforce and improve labor protections.   

ILAB also represents the interests of U.S. workers in U.S. government interagency policy deliberations on trade-related issues such as the elimination of unfair trade barriers, implementation of trade remedies, and the protection of intellectual property rights.