Abstract
The international labour law expands in area which has been forbidden for a long time. As international trade and the international liberal trade regime underpinned by the World Trade Organisation and globalisation face various challenges and doubts, expansion and reaffirma-tion of basic labour standards provide a positive response to some of recently raised concerns.
This chapter explores how the US and the EU, above all, promote labour standards in their trade negotiations. It outlines a summary of relevant substantive and procedural labour provi-sions as well as some examples of their implementation in practice.
The chapter argues that the increasing use of free trade agreements as vehicles for exporting social regulation is an im-portant and positive trend although its implications remain to be seen.