In a collaboration published by former US government officials, Katherine Tai and Juli Sue, they exposed that the Trump administration unilaterally cut ILAB's existing grants.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the elimination of resources earmarked for combating child labor and forced labor, as well as programs in Mexico related to the implementation of labor reform managed through the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB).
In a collaboration published by former US government officials, Katherine Tai and Juli Sue, they exposed how the Donald Trump administration unilaterally cut ILAB's existing grants aimed at combating forced and child labor around the world.
In Mexico's case, in the 2024 edition of the "Annual Report on the Results of the Worst Forms of Child Labor," our country received a "significant progress" rating among the 131 countries covered in the report.
Additionally, up to US$12.4 million in grants have reportedly been allocated to three organizations to reduce child and forced labor in Mexico and support migrant workers.
The same document noted that the 529 federal labor inspectors are still insufficient to cover the more than 59.2 million workers in the country.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare does not have an internal system to track cases of child labor violations.
According to official data, there are 924,000 children between the ages of 5 and 14 working in Mexico; while 1.4 million children between the ages of 15 and 17 are employed in the worst forms of work. Forty-three percent of these children are employed in agriculture; 27.8% in industry; and 31.9% in services.
BRAKE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LABOR REFORM
It's worth noting that some of these investments helped comply with trade agreements and laws, such as the Forced Labor Prevention Act and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The USMCA included resources to promote labor rights in Mexico, "as decades of previous trade policies have demonstrated to Americans that addressing deficiencies in international standards is necessary to protect standards in the United States," they said.
The ILAB, the former officials emphasize, has worked alongside its counterparts in Mexico to ensure that tens of thousands of Mexican workers could freely choose a union and improve their wages and working conditions at the bargaining table.
“This not only helped workers in Mexico achieve greater economic security, but also eliminated a major source of unfair competition in the manufacturing sector and ultimately reduced incentives for offshoring through trade.”
They conclude by highlighting that the cuts to the Department of Labor (DOL) mean that workers in the U.S. and abroad will be more likely to suffer abuse.
“American businesses will lack the information they need to make informed sourcing and investment decisions. American consumers will be more likely to unwittingly purchase products produced under inhumane conditions. American workers will be trapped in a destructive race to the bottom, driving down wages everywhere,” they stated.
