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The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual <a href="https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2019_National_Trade_Estimate_Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers</a> that addresses the status of foreign trade and investment barriers to U.S. exports around the world. This report is the U.S. government&rsquo;s major annual report on the barriers to trade, investment and services that U.S. exporters and other businesses encounter around the world. It covers 65 countries, customs territories and regional associations, including each U.S. free trade agreement partner and all of the 50 largest export markets for U.S. goods.
The report classifies foreign trade barriers in 11 categories, covering &ldquo;government-imposed measures and policies that restrict, prevent, or impede the international exchange of goods and services, unduly hamper U.S. foreign direct investment or U.S. electronic commerce.&rdquo; The categories include:
<ul>
<li>Import policies (e.g., tariffs and other import charges, quantitative restrictions, import licensing, customs barriers and shortcomings in trade facilitation, and other market access barriers);</li>
<li>Technical barriers to trade (e.g., unnecessarily trade restrictive standards, conformity assessment procedures, or technical regulations, including unnecessary or discriminatory technical regulations or standards for telecommunications products);</li>
<li>Sanitary and phytosanitary measures (e.g., trade restrictions implemented through unwarranted measures not based on scientific evidence);</li>
<li>Subsidies, including export subsidies (e.g., export financing on preferential terms and agricultural export subsidies that displace U.S. exports in third country markets) and local content subsidies (e.g., subsidies contingent on the purchase or use of domestic rather than imported goods);</li>
<li>Government procurement (e.g., &ldquo;buy national&rdquo; policies and closed bidding);</li>
<li>Intellectual property protection (e.g., inadequate patent, copyright, and trademark regimes and inadequate enforcement of intellectual property rights);</li>
<li>Services barriers (e.g., prohibitions or restrictions on foreign participation in the market, discriminatory licensing requirements or regulatory standards, local-presence requirements, and unreasonable restrictions on what services may be offered);</li>
<li>Barriers to digital trade (e.g., barriers to cross-border data flows, including data localization requirements, discriminatory practices affecting trade in digital products, restrictions on the provision of internet-enabled services, and other restrictive technology requirements);</li>
<li>Investment barriers (e.g., limitations on foreign equity participation and on access to foreign government-funded research and development programs, local content requirements, technology transfer requirements and export performance requirements, and restrictions on repatriation of earnings, capital, fees and royalties);</li>
<li>Competition (e.g., government-tolerated anticompetitive conduct of state-owned or private firms that restricts the sale or purchase of U.S. goods or services in the foreign country&rsquo;s markets or abuse of competition laws to inhibit trade); and</li>
<li>Other barriers (barriers that encompass more than one category, e.g., bribery and corruption, or that affect a single sector).</li>
</ul>
Fact Sheets:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2019/march/fact-sheet-2019-national-trade-estimat-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Removing Barriers to U.S. Exports Worldwide&rdquo;</a> (major developments in the 2019 NTE)</li>
<li><a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2019/march/fact-sheet-2019-national-trade-estimat-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Key Developments on Technical Barriers to Trade&rdquo;</a> (reducing technical barriers to trade highlighted in the report)</li>
<li><a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2019/march/fact-sheet-2019-national-trade-estimat-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Fighting to Open Foreign Markets to American Agriculture&rdquo;</a> (successes in sanitary and phytosanitary (agricultural) standards highlighted in the 2019 NTE)</li>
<li><a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2019/march/fact-sheet-2019-national-trade-estimate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Key Barriers to Digital Trade&rdquo;</a> (digital trade issues highlighted in the report)</li>
</ul>

core/freeform

SmarTrade

USTR Releases 2019 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers