UAW Seeks Import Quotas, Citing USMCA Impact on Jobs

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has formally asked the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to impose import quotas on light vehicles as part of the ongoing USMCA review. The proposal seeks to cap the number of foreign-made units entering the US market and redirect automotive production back to domestic facilities. The union argues that the current trade framework enables excessive import reliance and limits economic gains for US workers and manufacturers.

UAW President Shawn Fain called the existing agreement insufficient for the needs of US industry. In comments submitted to the USTR, he said the United States “has to throw out this agreement and start from scratch,” describing the current framework as a failure. The union’s primary recommendation is to adopt a quota-based model inspired in part by the 1965 US-Canada Auto Pact, which allowed tariff-free trade in vehicles and trucks as long as Canadian production remained proportional to Canadian sales.

The UAW’s plan centers on raising US production from an estimated 10 million light vehicles in 2024 to roughly 16 million units. According to the union, this requires correcting the imbalance between domestic production and domestic sales. It highlights that the United States currently has a production-to-sales ratio of “63 to 100,” which it says illustrates the market’s dependence on imports. The union argues that this gap prevents automaker profits from delivering their intended benefits to US households.

The UAW maintains that companies operating in the US market should increase their commitments to domestic manufacturing. “If companies want access to the most lucrative consumer market in the world, they should invest in US autoworkers and manufacturing. If you want to sell here, you have to build here,” the union wrote.

The union estimates that achieving a 1:1 production-to-sales ratio would require nearly 6 million additional units of annual output, representing the equivalent of at least 12 new final-assembly plants nationwide. It added that if the United States had a production ratio similar to Mexico’s, “the United States would produce an astonishing 30 million additional vehicles,” underscoring what it calls a major structural imbalance.

The proposal submitted to the USTR outlines a three-tier quota system aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing across the automotive supply chain. The first tier covers finished vehicles; the second includes key components such as engines, transmissions, axles with differentials, lithium-ion batteries, and electric motors; and the third encompasses general automotive parts. Each tier would require a defined share of content to originate in the United States.