Rodrigo Balbontin
Rodrigo Balbontin is an associate director covering trade, IP, and digital technology governance at ITIF. Rodrigo has extensive experience in policy design and research at the intersection of economic growth and innovation policy topics, such as science, technology and innovation governance, digital economy and trade agreements, and internet governance. Rodrigo is often a guest lecturer on Southeast Asia's digital domain at the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute.
Prior to joining ITIF, Rodrigo served as associate director of digital economy, policy, and innovation at The Asia Foundation. Prior to that, Rodrigo worked as an innovation policy consultant at the World Bank. As a consultant, he also served at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Ministry of Finance of Peru, and the Foundation for Agricultural Innovation in Chile. He earlier served at the Directorate of Budget at the Ministry of Finance of Chile, where he was involved in the design of the Chilean National Innovation System reform, and as an intern at the Science and Technology Policy Division at OECD.
Rodrigo holds a master's degree in science and technology policy from the University of Sussex and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chile.
Research Areas
Recent Publications
Comments to the European Commission Regarding the European Innovation Act
For the EIA to succeed, the Commission needs to address Europe’s broader economic policy environment. The EU’s reliance on the precautionary principle has entrenched a risk-first mindset that slows innovation and diverts resources away from competition and quality improvement.
Comments to USTR Regarding the 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy
ITIF recommends that USTR include Temu, AliExpress, and SHEIN on the 2025 Notorious Markets List because all three platforms meet USTR’s criteria as notorious online markets. They facilitate systemic trafficking in counterfeit goods, harming U.S. right holders, undermining fair competition, and placing U.S. consumers at risk.
Latin American Subnational Innovation Competitiveness Index 2.0
This report ranks more than 200 regions across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States on 13 commonly available indicators of innovation competitiveness, and offers policymakers a guide to bolstering regional and national innovation capacity.
Comments to Global Affairs Canada Regarding a Possible Canada-EU Digital Trade Agreement
Canada should approach exploratory talks regarding a Canada–EU digital trade agreement with caution. Greater alignment with the EU may appear to provide a hedge against U.S. influence, but in practice it risks importing a framework that impedes the potential for Canada’s digital economy and industries while raising compliance costs.
The US Government Should Expand Its Push for Open RAN Adoption Worldwide
To counter China’s telecom dominance and restore U.S. competitiveness, policymakers should lead a global push for Open RAN standards that foster security, innovation, and fair competition.
Taxing Patent Value Is a Patently Bad Idea
A proposed patent tax would punish startups, weaken U.S. competitiveness, and gut a system that has powered American innovation for centuries—all without solving the budget problem it aims to address.
Recent US Trade Actions Are Directionally Correct, But Incomplete
Room remains for the Trump administration to better balance the interests of restoring American manufacturing, removing other nations’ unfair trade practices, and orientating like-mined nations to the long-term China threat in the execution of the Trump administration’s trade and tariff policies.
Free Trade Protectionism: U.S. Tariffs Are Creating a New Trade Policy Paradox
As U.S. tariffs rise, countries are protecting themselves from American trade policy while cutting new free trade deals elsewhere. A new GTIPA report explores how this paradox could sideline the United States in the next global trade order.
How America’s Trading Partners Are Reacting to US Tariffs
Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance (GTIPA) members from 17 countries analyzed how their economies are reacting to U.S. tariffs. Many countries are seeking to support their local producers and establish trade arrangements that are less reliant on the United States.
Blocking Access to Foreign Pirate Sites: A Long-Overdue Task for Congress
More than a decade after the overheated SOPA/PIPA debate, experience from around the world shows that blocking access to piracy websites is an effective way to protect copyright holders and increase legal content consumption without harming legal commerce or free expression.
A Trade War Would Undermine America’s Innovators
Writing in World Commerce Review, Stephen Ezell and Rodrigo Balbontin argue that escalating U.S.–China trade tensions would harm American innovators by disrupting supply chains, increasing costs, and undermining the very competitiveness the United States seeks to protect.
Who Needs the World Anyway? (American Innovators Do)
Advanced technology companies in the United States export more than half a trillion dollars annually. These firms also have a global presence by manufacturing abroad. Retaliation against U.S. tariffs would harm these exports and foster more offshoring.
Recent Events and Presentations
Digital Trade and Digital Services
Rodrigo Balbontin speaks about digital trade and digital services.
Foreign Online Piracy: How the Courts Can Protect American IP
The event featured remarks from policymakers, legal experts, and industry leaders who assessed the scope of the threat and the legal and technical frameworks that can help address foreign online piracy.
America's Deindustrialization, Trade War, and Tariffs
Rodrigo Balbontin outlines the decline of U.S. manufacturing, the strategic response to China's rise, and implications of the U.S.'s current trade policy, particularly under a possible second Trump administration at an event hosted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), titled Seizing the Shift: Navigating Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs.