April 1, 2025–On the week the Trump Administration is expected to issue tariffs that could potentially impact most U.S. trading partners, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer released a report detailing barriers to global trade. The 397-page report includes input from several government agencies and public comments from October 2024. Organized by country, it will likely serve as a compass for bilateral negotiations going forward.
What’s helpful is a description of 14 types of trade barriers discussed. They include:
- Import policies such as tariffs, import charges, quantitative restrictions, and licensing requirements, customs barriers and shortcomings in trade facilitation, and other market access barriers;
- Technical barriers to trade, such as restrictive standards, conformity assessment procedures, or technical regulations;
- Sanitary and phytosanitary measures, such as food, animal or plant safety measures;
- Government procurement, such as “buy national” policies and closed bidding;
- Intellectual property protection or lack thereof;
- Services barriers;
- Obstructions to electronic commerce and digital trade, including barriers to cross-border data flows and others;
- Limits on foreign investment or access to research funded by governments;
- Subsidies, including export financing and import substitution;
- Anticompetitive practices for foreign goods in the country’s markets;
- State-owned enterprises in production of non-agricultural goods or services;
- Lack of labor rights for foreign workers;
- Practices that fail to protect the environment on par with U.S.-made goods and services; and
- Other barriers, such as bribery or corruption.
