Core Labor Standards and the WTO

One of the most important agents aiming to link labor standards and international trade agreements in the WTO have been U.S. administrations. However, the U.S. support was surprisingly discontinued in 2001. This books aims to examine the sudden change, and give advice for future strategies in setting Core Labor Standards (CLS) on the trade agenda. The analysis comprises the publicly displayed positions of the most important domestic stakeholders on the issue: the AFL-CIOs strategy and argumentation aiming to set CLS on the U.S. international trade agenda for the WTO conference, and the Bush Administrations efforts to dismiss CLS. It is argued, that both a shift in the framing of the labor issue on behalf of the AFL-CIO and the securitization of international trade policies administered by the Bush Administration after the terror attacks of September 11 account for the dismissal of CLS.

Friederike Hoffmann studied political science in Berlin and Istanbul. In her studies, she focused on international political economy and international relations, and graduated in 2007. Friederike Hoffmann currently works for the Charit¿ Foundation in Berlin and is a lecturer for international labor standards at Free University Berlin.