WASHINGTON – October 30, 2018 – BSA | The Software Alliance urged policymakers to be vigilant against the creation of barriers and disguised restrictions to digital trade in comments submitted to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for the National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report. BSA flagged Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam as trading partners that maintain significant barriers to US exports of digital goods and services, US e-commerce, and US foreign direct investment abroad. These barriers include restrictions on cross-border data transfers, data localization requirements, and forced technology transfer mechanisms. Such digital protectionism hampers the ability of the digital economy to reach its full potential, and requires a robust response from the US government, using all available tools of digital trade policy.

Software is a major driver of the US economy, contributing $1 trillion to the US GDP and supporting more than 10 million American jobs – and this economic prosperity has significant growth potential. However, achieving that potential depends upon open digital trade policies. BSA encourages USTR to prioritize not only the enforcement of existing digital trade obligations undertaken by other trading partners, but also the negotiation of ambitious digital trade disciplines with like-minded countries like Japan and the United Kingdom.