WASHINGTON – The Office of the United States Trade Representative has invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to review whether workers at Amphenol Optimize México, S.A. de C.V. (Amphenol), located in the cities of Nogales and Hermosillo in Sonora, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The United States has suspended liquidation of unliquidated entries of goods from the Amphenol facility, which manufactures connectors, antennas, cable assemblies, harnesses, and other products for a variety of end markets, including the automotive and aerospace sectors.
Background
The United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC). On April 11, 2025, the ILC received an RRM petition from the Secretary General of the Sindicato Industrial Operaciones y Manufacturas, a Mexican labor union. The petition alleges that Amphenol has violated workers’ rights by coercing workers, using threats and harassment, to vote for its favored outcome in a union vote; discouraged workers from joining an independent union; and taken reprisals against workers due to their union preferences, including through dismissals. The ILC reviews RRM petitions that it receives, and the accompanying information, within 30 days.
After conducting this review, the ILC determined that there is sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights enabling the good faith invocation of enforcement mechanisms. As a result, the United States Trade Representative has submitted a request to Mexico that Mexico review whether workers at Amphenol are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from today to complete the review.
A copy of the request for review can be found here.
A copy of the letter to the Secretary of the Treasury can be found here.
Information about previous requests can be found here.
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