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This paper studies the impact of international trade on the price-elasticity of aggregate demand for labour, based on the idea that a variation in the cost of (a given type of) labour has an effect on an economy's sectoral specialisation to the detriment of the most labour-intensive domestic output, even when the trade balance is assumed to balance. As this effect is greater the more open the economy, open trade leads to an increase in the price-elasticity of demand for labour, at least if the country has a comparative disadvantage in the industries making intensive use of the type of labour considered. This argument is illustrated by a simple model using the Armington hypothesis, with an empirical assessment for France.