Statement from Autos Drive America Criticizing US Trade Representative’s “Imprudent” Decision to Withdraw Proposals on Digital Trade Agenda

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Autos Drive America has joined forty other associations on a letter to the Biden Administration expressing their profound concern and disappointment that the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has withdrawn its support for proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) disciplines that protect U.S. leadership in the digital economy.

Jennifer Safavian, President and CEO of Autos Drive America, today released the following statement criticizing the administration’s decision to withdraw these key proposals on digital trade priorities from negotiations at the WTO:

“USTR’s decision to walk away from long-standing U.S. priorities is an imprudent and dramatic shift in bipartisan trade policy at a time when the automotive industry is in the midst of a technological transformation and cross-border data flows are of paramount importance to U.S. innovation and competitiveness. This move empowers competitors like China to write the rules in digital trade, while opening the door for new regulatory burdens on the automotive industry, effectively punishing innovation and fair competition. To abandon these principles is tantamount to ceding control over the future of digital innovation, and I urge USTR to reconsider.”

Read the full letter below.

Multi Association Letter on USTR WTO Announcement