As with many professional sports leagues in North America, Major league Rugby allows teams to trade certain assets between each other, such as players (technically, the playing rights of players), draft picks, salary cap space (although the $ amount is not disclosed), and international player slots.

In Major League Rugby, each team starts each season with 10 international player slots. These international slots determine how many non-US/Canada eligible players a team can have in any given matchday 23 (not a limit on how many foreign players a team can have on their entire roster). This is to guarantee playing time for US/Canada eligible players in order to let them develop as much as possible, and strengthen the domestic game.

Team	International Player Slots
	4
	10
	10
	11
	12
	10
	11
	10
	10
	11
	11

The amount of international slots for each team can be seen in the table to the left.

For the 2025 Major League Rugby Season, the total International Player Slot limit across all teams is 110. This means that on a weekend where every team is playing, a maximum of 110 of the 253 players on matchday rosters (11×23) will not be US or Canada Eligible. This means that at least 143 players, or 56.5%, are domestic.

With the exception of Anthem RC, teams can trade away a maximum of 3 international slots for a minimum of 7 per matchday 23, and each team can have no more than 12 international slots. Anthem RC, as a USA national team development side, was initially permitted to trade away an additional slot for a minimum of 6, but has since traded away two more 2025 slots and currently sits on 4 international slots per matchday 23. MLR have not provided any clarity on this.

For a list of trade transactions by season, please refer to the drop down menu above, or the following links: