The U.S Trade Policy Decision Structure: A Primer

Abstract

For any nation actively engaged in the global trading system, trade policy is a complex set of strategic decisions. Trade policy in the 21st century has expanded well beyond tariffs and quotas on industrial and agricultural commodities to span the range of government responsibilities: from intellectual property, global supply chains, regulatory and administrative procedures, and health and safety standards to taxes, labor, and the environment. In a political system as complicated as that of the United States, with a vast and growing number of interested and influential stakeholders, developing a coherent trade strategy and a distinct U.S. position on any given issue is difficult. A cumbersome but effective system has evolved to incorporate all the views of, and useful information from, the interested parties, both within the government and outside it. This paper tries to describe that system.