Actually, all the talk of gender equity, envoronmental responsibility and labor code equality has merit if only as bargaining chips.

In negotiations like this there must be give and take. We want the US to give on issues so we must. These things can be traded away for things we want.

Also, the above noted issues are not insignificant. They affect costs of production, primarily in Mexico which competes with the US and Canada based on cheap labour and lax environmental standards.