Position America to Compete

Introduction

The United States must continue its legacy of leadership in setting the rules of trade in a manner that promotes and protects U.S. innovation.

As other nations seek to challenge U.S. leadership – in some cases by tilting the global playing field with standards and rules that undermine American innovation – it remains paramount that the U.S. promotes market access and rules that protect U.S. investments.

Key Trends

The country that wins the innovation race wins the future. Unfortunately, not everyone is racing by the same rules. Other nations’ efforts to distort fair competition hinder the United States’ ability to compete on an equal footing and bring innovative products to market.

Digital Trade Restrictions Limit Access To Key Markets

China
Russia
India
20%
of World GDP
Indonesia
Vietnam
Brazil
Turkey
Argentina
France
Thailand
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Digital Trade Restrictiveness Index: Digital Trade Restrictiveness Index illustrates the countries who prevent opportunities for companies and consumers.

Not Business as Usual

80 jurisdictions have established technical standards at odds with global norms for the ICT sector.

“As an international company you're essentially showing up to the playing field with a different set of rules and figuring out how you can compete.”
Tom Linebarger
Cummins, CEO

Let's Make a Deal? Not for the U.S.

There are 280 bilateral and regional trade agreements. The U.S. is party to just 14 of them.

$225-$600 billion. The amount lost annually due to counterfeit goods, pirated software and theft of trade secrets

Major Impact of Intellectual Property Theft

$180 - $540 billion lost by U.S. economy annually due to theft of trade secrets.

Policy Recommendations

The United States must continue its legacy of leadership in setting the rules of trade in a manner that promotes and protects U.S. innovation. Below are our recommendations on how to achieve these goals.