100+ Members of Congress Join Massive Civil Society Call to Overhaul USMCA, Put People Over Profits
WASHINGTON, D.C — Public Citizen joins with 100+ members of Congress and hundreds of labor, environmental, health, faith, farmer, small business, and migrant justice organizations in calling on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to rework the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to serve people and the planet rather than corporate interests.
Ahead of the agreement’s 2026 joint review, coalitions across sectors submitted comments demanding urgent reforms to address the USMCA’s flaws, including corporate giveaways, insufficient labor and environmental protections and enforcement, and rules that fuel displacement and undermine human rights.
Cross-Sector Demands
105 members of Congress, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), endorsed a comment calling for substantial changes to the USMCA, including stronger protections for U.S. workers, consumers, small businesses, and farmers, improved enforcement mechanisms for labor and environmental standards, and the removal of rules that undermine sovereignty, access to medicines, Big Tech regulation, and more.
The issues highlighted in their letter mirrored demands by more than 700 organizations and more than 23,000 individuals who signed onto a comment co-sponsored by the Citizens Trade Campaign and a dozen other organizations.
Public Citizen submitted a detailed comment demanding a complete overhaul of the agreement, with special focus on removing the deal’s terms that benefit Big Tech and Big Pharma at the expense of the rest of us.
Access to Affordable Medicines
Public health organizations, including Médecins Sans Frontières USA, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, Public Citizen, and Health GAP, joined with unions – such as the Communications Workers of America and National Nurses United as well as faith groups like NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice – to call for the elimination of USMCA intellectual property rules that keep drug prices high, including patent term extensions, market exclusivity, and patent linkage.
Migrant Justice and Human Rights
Migrant rights organizations, including the National Partnership for New Americans, LULAC, and LCLAA, urged trade policy reforms to address displacement, exploitation, and inequality driven by decades of corporate-driven trade. They called for USMCA revisions that prioritize human rights, fair wages, climate resilience, and inclusive policymaking.
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante called for the agreement’s protections for migrant workers to be maintained, strengthened, and enforced, particularly for migrant women workers. They also advised that labor enforcement provisions be expanded to apply to facilities in the U.S. and Canada as well as Mexico.
Workers’ Rights
The Labor Advisory Committee (LAC) – a panel of USTR-cleared advisers including the AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers, the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, and more – warned that offshoring, job losses, and wage suppression persist under the USMCA. The committee called for renegotiation before any extension of the agreement’s 16-year term, with stronger labor enforcement, tighter rules of origin, and restored country-of-origin labeling for food.
Nearly 70 members of the Congressional Labor Caucus, led by Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) recommended pressuring Mexico to raise wages and labor standards; strengthening and expanding the USMCA’s labor “rapid response mechanism,” ensuring both Canada and Mexico fully enforce a ban on goods made with forced labor, and addressing transshipment from China.
Environment and Corporate Tribunals
Leading environmental organizations, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, National Resources Defense Council, and Industrious Labs, called for revisions to the USMCA that support green and union jobs and clean water and air. Revisions including binding and enforceable environmental standards, a full elimination of ISDS that undermines labor and environmental safeguards, and a new tri-national body to tackle air pollution, and more.
BlueGreen Alliance, a powerful coalition of labor and environmental organizations, shared key provisions needed to support industrial resilience, clean manufacturing, and high-road labor and environmental standards.
Fighting Big Tech Overreach
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), and 17 members of Congress called for the elimination of USMCA terms that hinder congressional oversight of monopolistic activity. Comments also urge revisions to protect data privacy, the right to repair, and AI transparency, pushing back against “digital trade” rules that shield Big Tech from accountability.
A collection of small-business, consumer, and digital organizations explained how certain USMCA provisions undermine governmental tools to support consumers’ right to repair. American Economic Liberties Project, Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FULU Foundation, iFixit, Re: Create Coalition, The Repair Association, and U.S. PIRG recommended revising or removing terms that make it harder for people to fix the products they own.
Farmers and Food Sovereignty
Groups representing farmers and rural communities, including the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC), and Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), urged reforms to protect fair markets, strengthen labor and environmental standards, defend food labeling and seed-saving rights, and limit corporate control over agriculture.