WASHINGTON DC – In response to the release of the 2024 National Trade Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Jake Colvin released the following statement:
“USTR pulled its punches this year, undermining decades of bipartisan efforts to call out the full scope of trade barriers through its annual NTE report and giving a free pass to efforts by foreign governments to discriminate against American companies under a thin veneer of regulating in the public interest.
“Specifically, in failing to call out significant barriers to American e-commerce and digitally-enabled exports, the Biden Administration is wasting an opportunity to stand up for U.S. innovation and inviting discrimination against American companies and workers by our economic competitors.
“By refusing to catalog local content requirements and other key foreign trade barriers, USTR is also willfully ignoring its congressional mandate to identify ‘significant barriers’ to U.S. exports of goods and services, foreign investment and electronic commerce.
“The NTE report is the latest example of deeply misguided efforts by this USTR to erode the standards that have governed decades of aggressive U.S. Government advocacy on behalf of American businesses and workers. America’s global economic competitors cannot be allowed to stand up blatantly discriminatory policies that disadvantage U.S. companies under the pretense of legitimate regulation.
“Ultimately, this shortsighted pullback from our global trade advocacy will threaten American jobs and the U.S. tax base, as foreign competitors and adversaries from the EU to China feel increasingly emboldened to discriminate against a wide range of American interests under the guise of digital regulation, public health or the environment.”
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About the NFTC
The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) is the premier business association advancing trade and tax policies that support access to the global marketplace. Founded in 1914, NFTC promotes an open, rules-based global economy on behalf of a diverse membership of U.S.-based businesses.
