Hearing on Advancing America’s Interests at the World Trade Organization’s 14th Ministerial Conference
House Committee on Ways & Means
Subcommittee on Trade
Hearing Date: March 17, 2026
Bryan Riley
Director, Free Trade Initiative
National Taxpayers Union
Submission for the Record
I appreciate the opportunity to submit these comments on behalf of National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a non-partisan citizen group founded in 1969 to work for less burdensome taxes, more efficient, accountable government, and stronger rights for all taxpayers. More about our work as a non-profit grassroots organization is available at www.ntu.org.
NTU supports many of the U.S. Trade Representative’s goals at the upcoming 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as described in the Trump Administration’s 2026 Trade Policy Agenda, including seeking a permanent extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions and pursuing meaningful plurilateral agreements to reduce trade barriers. The WTO moratorium on duties on electronic transmissions has facilitated an explosion in digital services around the world. The moratorium should not be allowed to expire and instead should be extended indefinitely to remove uncertainty about its future. The United States should also lead efforts to secure sectoral trade agreements that remove barriers to trade in e-commerce and other areas.
NTU also encourages the United States to hold other countries accountable to their WTO commitments. A primary U.S. objective during negotiations leading to the creation of the WTO, as directed by Congress in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, was to provide for more effective and expeditious resolution of trade disputes to better enforce U.S. trade rights. The United States has initiated 124 WTO cases against unfair foreign trade practices. But, since 2020, the United States has not launched a single case. Failure to enforce our rights allows other countries to evade their obligations and contributes to a perception that the WTO does not protect U.S. interests.
For example, in its Report to Congress on China’s WTO Compliance released earlier this month, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) reported that China has a long record of violating WTO rules. However, the Biden Administration failed to initiate a single WTO claim against China, a mistake that the current USTR has so far continued.
NTU encourages the Ways and Means Committee to consider the following actions to better enforce U.S. trade rights:
Direct USTR to initiate claims against actions by WTO members that violate their commitments. Many of these violations have been identified in USTR’s annual reports to Congress on China’s WTO compliance and in its annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.
Work with USTR to identify areas where current WTO rules are inadequate to address harmful trade practices and devise a plan to broaden WTO coverage to encompass these areas. The WTO took effect over three decades ago, before the introduction of the iPhone, Facebook, ChatGPT, or other modern innovations. The United States should lead efforts to modernize the WTO to assure that it continues to promote and defend U.S. interests for decades to come.
Direct USTR to strengthen the ability of the WTO to enforce U.S. trade rights. In particular, the United States should refrain from blocking the appointment of new members to the WTO Appellate Body. Currently, if the United States wins a WTO case against China, China may appeal that decision to the appellate body for review. However, because the United States has blocked the appointment of new members to the appellate body, any U.S. WTO wins are unenforceable if the offending country appeals them.
Work with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), USTR, and other federal entities to identify ways to strengthen and speed up the WTO dispute resolution process to better enforce U.S. rights.
Direct the USITC to evaluate the effectiveness of unilateral tariff actions, WTO dispute resolution, and dispute resolution procedures used in U.S. free trade agreements to determine how to best combat unfair trade practices and prevent the application of loopholes that allow countries to skirt the rules.
The WTO was designed to promote U.S. interests by limiting unfair trade practices. It will work best for the United States if we enforce the rules and modernize them to expand the benefits that free, rules-based trade brings to Americans.