The ETUC challenges the violation of trade union rights in countries outside the EU. It maintains relationships with trade unions in Eastern Europe through the Pan-European Regional Council (PERC), and in the Mediterranean region through the Euromed Trade Union Forum, which groups together trade union organisations that are members of the ETUC with those in partner countries of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

The ETUC works with trade unions in the countries where the EU has free trade agreements, in particular through follow-up committees established by the EU institutions to monitor the agreements. This is the case in Colombia, Peru, Central American countries and South Korea. The ETUC maintains relations with regional trade union organisations such as the Trade Union Confederation of Americas (TUCA), within the framework of institutional cooperation between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and the Arab Trade Union Confederation.