April will be a pivotal month for U.S. – and global – trade policy. It’s clear the Trump Administration views trade as a pressing priority. During its first two months, the second Trump Administration has published several memos directing the development of plans to address wide-ranging trade ambitions, such as the and plans.
International trade is key to U.S. technological leadership. They are mutually reinforcing contributors to U.S. economic strength and global competitiveness. Trade connects U.S. manufacturers and firms with customers overseas, supporting more than 40 million U.S. jobs and investments around the country. When technology companies sell U.S. goods and services in markets around the world, they can re-invest revenues into high-paying jobs and cutting-edge research and development that fuels the next generation of technologies.
Digital trade and trade in technology products are particularly important to the U.S. economy, with nearly $1 trillion in total exports and a roughly $300 billion digital trade surplus in 2023 alone. This trade affects almost every American business, worker, and customer across the economy – not just large corporations or technology companies.
As President Trump and his team finalize their overall trade policy approach, it’s imperative that technology is part of the conversation. The Administration has an opportunity to collaborate with industry and international partners to advance an effective and durable trade strategy that strengthens U.S. leadership. The topics below include some of the themes we hope to see reflected across the Administration’s trade approach:
Ensure Trade Actions Support Broader Policy Priorities
The government should carefully consider any new tariffs or other restrictions to avoid unintended consequences that undermine other important goals, such as raising costs or disrupting access to manufacturing inputs or technology products and services that are essential for companies and workers across the economy. Employing a comprehensive, fair, transparent, and consistent review and exclusion process can help in this regard by allowing policymakers to regularly consider the real-world effects of any tariffs and to adjust policies as needed to mitigate any effects and achieve the trade actions’ identified policy objectives.
Support Manufacturing Competitiveness
As noted in the 2025 Trade Policy Agenda, supporting U.S. manufacturers and manufacturing jobs is a key trade priority for the Trump Administration. By expanding export opportunities through securing market access commitments and robustly addressing barriers to trade, the government can promote a strong and globally competitive domestic manufacturing base. U.S. trade policy should aim to reduce tariffs, secure non-discriminatory treatment of goods and services, promote acceptance of international certification and conformity assessments (instead of requiring country-unique reviews), and counter local content requirements.
We hope to see additional details in the coming days on plans for new strategic and targeted bilateral and multilateral market access agreements, building off the strong precedents set in the first Trump term through negotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement.
Advance U.S. Digital Trade Leadership
Those same agreements also are the gold standard for digital trade commitments. The Trump Administration should build upon that success by demonstrating its support for key digital trade pillars – such as enabling international data flows, prohibiting data localization, and preventing source code and algorithm disclosure requirements – and striving to secure these commitments with additional trading partners, such as in the already announced trade deal negotiations with the United Kingdom and India. U.S. leadership will also be essential to securing a renewal of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions, which for more than 25 years has supported innovation, economic growth, and bolstered supply chain resiliency by promoting the unimpeded flow of digital services globally.
Champion Durability and Certainty
Businesses rely on stability in order to plan, hire, innovate, and compete, particularly when it comes to considering the long-term and expensive investments that will drive the next generation of technologies. Developing a comprehensive and strategic U.S. trade agenda can help to foster that stability by opening up business opportunities around the world and increasing business confidence in their hiring, innovation, investment, and export approaches. The Administration should also prioritize long-term, durable trade agreements and commitments rather than more limited approaches.
Incorporating these principles as the Trump Administration calibrates its trade strategy will position the Administration to drive economic growth, create jobs,鈥痑nd position the U.S. as the global tech leader鈥痺ell into the future. We look forward to working with the Administration to advance trade initiatives and policies that will benefit the United States.