U.S. News: Tariffs Aren't the Only Obstacles --- Trump's offensive also targets other nations' regulations, tax policies, licensing

"The Trump administration wants countries to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade, which it says help explain the U.S. goods trade deficit. Some barriers are widely recognized, such as import quotas and onerous rules to certify products. Others have been cited as problems by President Trump and his team but aren't necessarily viewed as trade barriers by economists or other countries. This week, the European Union said it had offered to lower its industrial product tariffs to zero if the U.S. would do the same. Trump said no. Vietnam's pitch to eliminate tariffs on U.S. imports also appeared to fall short. From Brussels to Hanoi and Ottawa, leaders are learning that cutting a deal with the U.S. on trade could require much more than lowering tariffs. It might mean rewriting domestic regulations on issues such as food safety, or scrapping tax and other policies the Trump administration doesn't like -- a much more complicated undertaking that dims the prospect of resolving the trade disputes quickly. "It's not only tariffs," Trump said this week after the EU's offer. "They come up with rules and regulations that are just designed for one reason: That you can't sell your product in those countries." U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hammered that point home during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, holding up a copy of the National Trade Estimate, a federal report that details non-tariff barriers, and telling lawmakers that it has become "very popular" in recent days. Greer went on to detail some non-tariff barriers for lawmakers, such as licensing requirements in India that block U.S. ethanol. In some cases, it appears that non-tariff barriers had been enough to prompt Trump's team to hike tariffs on countries even though the U.S. is running a trade surplus with them. Australia, for instance, was given a 10% tariff despite importing more from the U.S. than it exports. Pressed on that point during the hearing, Greer noted that Australia blocks U.S. beef and pork. Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he authorized a 90-day pause on certain tariffs to most countries. The public emphasis on non-tariff barriers reflects internal thinking at the White House, said people with knowledge of the discussions, one of whom said that addressing non-tariff barriers is the most important aspect of any potential economic deal to Trump and his economic staff. The U.S. has longstanding barriers of its own. The Buy American Act from 1933 gives preference to U.S.-made products for federal government procurement -- a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Agricultural subsidies for American farmers make U.S. crops cheaper, giving them an advantage. And the 1920 Jones Act, still on the books, forces all goods being shipped domestically in the U.S. to use American-built, owned, crewed and flagged vessels. --- Clear Protectionism in Some Cases In some cases, non-tariff barriers are clear protectionism. Argentina for years forced car companies that wanted to import cars to either build factories in Argentina or export products that were equivalent in value to their imports -- trying to ensure the country wouldn't add to a trade deficit. That led to some strange businesses, such as South Korean carmaker Hyundai exporting peanuts from Argentina to import its cars into that country. But for many other trading partners, non-tariff barriers are the result of a country's culture, politics and longstanding practices, which makes them difficult to get rid of, says Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "The French government knows that if it liberalizes its norms on agricultural products, it's going to have tractors lining the streets of Paris," she said. Other countries such as Japan view protecting rice farmers as a food security and cultural matter." [1]

 1. U.S. News: Tariffs Aren't the Only Obstacles --- Trump's offensive also targets other nations' regulations, tax policies, licensing. Kim Mackrael; Bade, Gavin; Luhnow, David.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 10 Apr 2025: A7.