Trade

Join ITIF for a panel discussion featuring experts from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Canada and Fundación IDEA in Mexico, who will review a new report on the importance of North America’s trade agreement for all three economies and discuss the priorities Canada and Mexico bring to the review process, opportunities to deepen production and technology cooperation, and how the agreement can be updated to support regional competitiveness in the decade ahead.

Whether Washington sustains a policy response equal to the challenge China poses or takes a timeout while Xi runs up the score remains an open question.

The U.S. government does not need to create a Board to manage trade with China—it needs to use all its available tools to urge China to conduct economic relations in accordance with established trade rules, commitments which China has already clearly and unequivocally made to the United States and to other global trade partners.

Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. trade negotiators should view the USMCA renewal process as an opportunity to move beyond the old free-trade model and build a strategic North American economic bloc capable of producing, innovating, and competing at the scale required by the China challenge.

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on semiconductor imports on national security grounds under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. These tariffs would raise ICT prices and thereby lower ICT consumption and capital stocks, which would reduce economic growth and lower Americans’ living standards.

The EU’s Tech Sovereignty Package seeks to reduce reliance on American technology, but by restricting access to the firms driving innovation in cloud computing, semiconductors, and AI infrastructure, it risks weakening Europe’s competitiveness and strengthening China’s position in the global tech race.

As Daniel Castro writes in Tech Policy Press, U.S. export controls were intended to preserve America’s AI lead, but by accelerating China’s push for technological self-sufficiency and strengthening competing AI ecosystems, they may be undermining that goal.

The EU has an array of discriminatory policies that target major U.S. tech firms, a legitimate basis for action under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. U.S. policymakers should favor amicably negotiated solutions, but this tool is available as a last resort if necessary.

Country cases show that the Trump administration’s tariffs have had a paradoxical effect. They have given Washington short-term leverage in some bilateral negotiations, especially with countries seeking improved access to the U.S. market or deeper security and technology ties. But they have also accelerated a global search for optionality.

Only 1 percent of tech goods under HS code 84 coming from ASEAN faced tariffs compared to about 90 percent for those from China.