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 ThyssenKrupp Springs & Stabilizers de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. (ThyssenKrupp), located in the city and state of San Luis Potosi, 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 ThyssenKrupp facility, which manufactures automotive suspension components. The U.S. request follows receipt of a petition alleging retaliation against and coercion of workers organizing to replace an incumbent union.
Background
The United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Labor co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement (ILC). On October 14, 2025, the ILC received an RRM petition from La Liga Sindical Obrera Mexicana (LSOM), a Mexican independent union, the United Steelworkers (USW), and International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network. The petition alleges that ThyssenKrupp and an incumbent union at the facility have violated workers’ rights by interfering in employees’ union activity and retaliating against workers because of their attempts to organize an independent union at the facility, including through discriminatory firings or layoffs. 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 to review whether workers at ThyssenKrupp 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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