Trade & International

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 41 million American jobs depended on trade. Restoring trade can help accelerate economic growth, support high-paying U.S. jobs, reduce inflation and secure long-term prosperity. Business Roundtable urges policymakers to work with key partners and allies to expand rules-based trade and investment, which will empower Americans to sell to more customers around the world, ensure a level playing field and increase access to affordable goods and services for families. 

China engages in unfair trade and investment practices, preventing U.S. companies from competing on a level playing field and hurting U.S. workers. Business Roundtable urges policymakers to preserve and fully implement the Phase One Agreement and partner with U.S. allies and trading partners to press for further structural reforms in China. Policymakers should develop a strategy that resolves economic issues while enabling long-term American competitiveness and access to customers in China who want to buy goods and services from American workers, farmers and businesses.

Addressing China’s Trade Practices

Learn more about the need for a strategic, long-term approach to address trade barriers in China.

Trade with Canada and Mexico

Learn more about trade with Canada and Mexico, how it benefits U.S. workers and businesses, and how the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement sets the foundation for the competitiveness and prosperity of the North American economic partnership.

Trade with Canada and Mexico supports nearly 13 million American jobs. Sustaining and strengthening U.S. trade with these partners will support U.S. economic growth and job creation. That’s why Business Roundtable commends all three countries for enacting the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and supports full implementation of all commitments and continued duty-free trilateral trade to strengthen North American competitiveness and speed economic recovery.

Tariffs are taxes or duties that must be paid on goods being imported into the United States. While the unilateral imposition of tariffs may be permitted under U.S. law under special circumstances, the misuse of tariffs under these laws can create trade wars that hurt American companies, workers, farmers and consumers.

Section 232 Tariffs

Learn more about why Section 232 tariffs are the wrong way to address steel and aluminum global overcapacity, and how those tariffs harm U.S. workers and businesses.

Benefits of Trade

International trade and investment support economic growth in every state and over 41 million American jobs. Learn more about how trade supports jobs in your state.

From manufacturing and transportation to information technology, construction, professional services and agriculture, and everything in between, every sector of our economy benefits from trade. With more than 95 percent of the world’s population and 80 percent of the world’s purchasing power outside the United States, future economic growth and jobs for the United States increasingly depend on expanding U.S. trade and investment opportunities in the global marketplace.

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