WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Chamber Senior Vice President and Head of International John Murphy issued the following statement in response to the March 29 release of the 2024 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on Foreign Barriers by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR): 

“The release of the 2024 NTE Report confirms that USTR is choosing to ignore or excuse trade barriers raised against American companies and their workers. This is a break with past practice and contrary to the purpose of this congressionally-mandated report. Omissions appear to include non-tariff barriers as well as digital trade barriers and support for due process and transparency in competition proceedings. 

“USTR claims that exclusions in the 2024 NTE Report will ‘return it to its stated statutory purpose.’ However, by dropping U.S. objections to trade violations, USTR risks giving a green light to foreign governments to raise barriers against U.S. exports or otherwise discriminate against U.S. companies.  

“On digital trade, we urge USTR to take note of the Chamber’s recent report that demonstrates how digital trade supports more than 3 million American jobs across every state and congressional district, fueling economic growth.  

“We cannot pretend trade barriers don’t exist. Enforcement of U.S. trade agreements enjoys broad bipartisan support, and we urge USTR to enforce the commitments passed into law by Congress for the benefit of all American companies and the workers they employ.”