USTR accepting comments on foreign trade barriers

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is accepting comments through Oct. 31 on foreign barriers to exports of U.S. goods and services, U.S. direct foreign investment, and protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights for inclusion in USTR’s annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, the agency said.

USTR said commenters should submit information related to trade barriers in categories including other countries’ import policies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary/phytosanitary standards, subsidies, government procurement restrictions, intellectual property protection, services barriers, digital trade and e-commerce barriers, and competition policies.

Each comment should include an estimate of the potential increase in U.S. exports resulting from removing any foreign trade barrier identified in the comment, as well as a description of the methodology the commenter used to derive the estimate, USTR said.

The estimates will help USTR conduct comparative analyses of a barrier’s effect over a range of industries, the agency said.