This essay provides an analytical introduction to the policy and practice of including labor rights provisions in trade agreements. It surveys the main existing trade agreements that address labor issues, and deconstructs the labor rights provisions into their main component elements to give the reader a comparative analysis of the approaches taken in different agreements. The essay then discusses several policy considerations that are likely to determine the success or failure of labortrade linkages, and offers advice to policy makers and negotiators on how to achieve optimal results.