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US Lifts Customs Hold On Amphenol's Mexican Plant After Nine Fired Workers Get Their Jobs Back

The Trade Representative says a labor dispute at the Nogales, Sonora facility is resolved, and customs accounting on its goods can resume.

The U.S. Trade Representative said Friday it has resolved a labor dispute at Amphenol's plant in Nogales, Sonora, and told the Treasury Secretary to resume final customs accounting on goods from the facility. The plant, Amphenol Optimize México, makes automotive and aerospace connectors, cables and components.

What the plant did to fix it

The agency said the facility reinstated nine workers with full backpay and benefits. It also adopted a neutrality statement and guidelines on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and set up a publicized complaint channel for workers to report rights violations.

Mexico's government delivered in-person trainings on those rights to all company personnel, the agency said. It also monitored the facility and kept an email address, reporting platform and phone line open for anonymous reports of interference.

The remediation plan is dated October 31, 2025. It set January 31, 2026 as the date for all remediation to be complete.

How the duty hold began

On April 11, 2025, a Mexican labor union, the Sindicato Industrial Operaciones y Manufacturas, petitioned under the USMCA rapid-response labor mechanism. It alleged Amphenol coerced workers to back the company's preferred result in a union vote, discouraged them from joining an independent union and retaliated against workers, including through dismissals.

An interagency labor committee, co-chaired by the Trade Representative and the Labor Secretary, found sufficient, credible evidence of a denial of rights. On May 9, 2025, the Trade Representative asked Mexico to review the matter, and Mexico accepted, investigated and worked with Amphenol on remediation.

That same day, under section 752(a) of the USMCA Implementation Act, the Trade Representative directed that final accounting, known as liquidation, be suspended on all unliquidated entries of goods from the facility.

The letter that ends the suspension

In a letter to the Treasury Secretary, the Trade Representative said a condition in section 752(b) has been met and he is no longer directing the suspension. He asked that the Homeland Security Department and Customs and Border Protection be told.

The agency said the United States agrees there is no ongoing denial of rights.

The plan says the U.S. and Mexico will try to decide within 30 days after it expires whether implementation was adequate, and either side must flag any pending issue within that window.