There is no evidence that trade partners weaponize labor provisions in trade agreements, according to new research co-authored by Desirée LeClercq, the Proskauer Employment and Labor Law Assistant Professor at the ILR School.

In Labor provisions in trade agreements: recasting the protectionist debate, LeClercq and co-authors Raymond Robertson (Texas A&M) and Daniel Samaan (International Labor Organization), examined the relationship between labor provisions and bilateral trade agreements from the 1990s through February 2016.

LeClercq, a former lawyer for the International Labor Organization, and her research colleagues found no evidence that labor provisions impact, much less reduce, trade flows.

Read the full story on the ILR School website.