The USMCA, an agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada that has replaced the NAFTA and the side agreement on labour (NAALC), represents an important advance on the path of the virtuous link between regulation of international trade and promotion of social rights. The new agreement, in fact, contains chapter no. 23 entirely dedicated to work: here the Parties go beyond the generic list of "principles" contained in the previous NAALC and expressly refer to the principles and conventions of the ILO, thus aiming for regulatory harmonisation between States through international labour law.
The opportunity to deepen the knowledge of this important Treaty with Janice Bellace and Lance Compa, distinguished scholars of labour law, appointed by the US government as members of the panel that has the task of sanctioning the non-compliant parties, is also a chance to reflect on the European economic and social model, as well as on the resumption of international trade relations in the Biden era, with the aim of relaunching the instrument of the social clause at a macro-regional but also at global multilateral level.