Reporter Memo: What to Watch For In Trump’s 2026 Trade Policy Agenda
February 27, 2026
From: Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen
Re: What to Watch For In Trump’s 2026 Trade Policy Agenda
On March 1, the President is statutorily required to release his trade agenda for the coming year. It’s embarrassing timing for the Trump administration, just days after a Supreme Court ruling threw the whole Trump trade agenda into chaos with its 6-3 decision striking down the authority Trump has misused to implement sweeping tariffs at whim.
Regardless, in this year’s President’s Trade Policy Agenda, we will no doubt see grandiose self-congratulation for what the administration will claim is the best trade policy, probably in the history of the universe, with plans to double down on the President’s approach to wield tariffs as a cudgel. We’ll likely see more hateful misdiagnosis of the failures of our past trade policies — blaming other countries and immigrants for the real frustrations American workers face, rather than the large corporate interests that rigged those trade deals in their favor.
The agenda will likely be short on meaningful details — last year’s was only five pages — and whatever plans are included could be upended at any moment through a 3 am Truth Social post. Despite claims of being “the most transparent administration ever,” multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office have gone unanswered. Public Citizen recently filed a new lawsuit demanding the release of basic information on U.S. trade officials’ communications with Big Tech lobbyists.
If the next year of trade chaos continues the pattern from the past year, we can expect:
- More secretive deals that claim to benefit U.S. workers but that actually bully countries on behalf of Big Tech CEOs, help Big Pharma companies expand their monopoly power to increase their profits worldwide, and create free rein for large mining companies to embark on a neocolonial critical minerals resource-grab that will harm vulnerable communities.
- More misuse of the Section 301 and 232 investigations processes to replace the repealed tariffs. While these tariff authorities are important tools to counter unfair trade practices and national security concerns, Trump demonstrated his willingness to launch a bogus Section 301 investigation against Brazil to bully the country on behalf of social media executives and his fellow coup-instigator, Jair Bolsonaro.
- More grift and blatant conflicts of interest, like tariff exemptions for companies whose CEOs give Trump gold statues or fast-tracked permits abroad for companies owned by his billionaire buddy du jour.
Luckily, there is some counter-programming on offer.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai just published an alternative, progressive vision for how trade policy can instead be based on principles of solidarity, environmental stewardship, economic inclusion, and resilience. Ambassador Tai’s clear-eyed analysis of how both parties have been responsible for the corporate-driven trade deals that led to a race to the bottom — paired with forward-looking policy proposals that actually address the pain workers have experienced from “trickle-down” economics — provide a stark and refreshing contrast to the President’s xenophobic and conflict-riddled trade policy agenda.