Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze the evolution of U.S. trade and labor rights policy with respect to unilateralism and multilateralism, using as points of reference the unilateral labor rights provisions of the Generalized System of Preferences, on one hand, and the multilateral approach of the European Union on the other hand. Part I discusses the principal criticisms of the unilateral approach reflected in the statutory regime described above, and offers a defense to those criticisms. Part H looks at the substantial movement of the NAFTA labor side accord and the framework it creates reflecting a multilateral approach to labor rights concerns akin, in many respects, to the European approach. Part III examines how, notwithstanding such movement, strongly unilateral features still mark the NAALC labor rights regime. Part IV, in conclusion, draws from the earlier discussion to inform the continuing debates on labor rights and labor standards in North American trade, particularly with respect to the proposed accession of Chile to the NAFTA and future expansion of free trade agreements in the hemisphere.

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