Map: Big Tech’s Targets in Trump’s Secret Tariff Negotiations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new visualization by Public Citizen reveals important details behind President Trump’s full-throated attack on other countries’ digital regulations on behalf of Big Tech. This new analysis maps the wide array of policies around the world on data privacy, AI accountability, digital taxes, and anti-monopoly laws that Big Tech industry lobbyists have urged U.S. trade negotiators to target.
The day before Trump’s infamous “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, the U.S. Trade Representative was required by executive order to deliver a report detailing “unfair trade practices by other countries” and providing recommendations. The administration has refused to release this report that supposedly justifies sweeping tariffs and secretive negotiations to avoid them. A Freedom of Information Act request for this document is pending.
In the absence of transparency in both the justification for and content of the dozens of trade negotiations underway related to the “reciprocal tariffs,” this tool visualizes the comments that industry submitted to inform the undisclosed report, offering a rare look at the policy wishlists Big Tech has fed directly into U.S. trade policy.
“Creating tariff chaos to force countries to bend the knee for Big Tech CEOs does nothing to help the American workers, but it’s a nice favor to Trump’s billionaire buddies who contributed handsomely to his campaign and inauguration,” said Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen. “Since Trump is negotiating all these so-called ‘deals’ completely in secret, we’ve dug through Big Tech’s own comments to shine a spotlight on their hit list of other countries’ digital laws.”
The map catalogues over a hundred digital policies under threat in more than 45 jurisdictions worldwide. These include:
- Privacy and Data Protection Laws: Rules that limit the ability of corporations to freely move data to jurisdictions that provide low standards of data protection.
- AI and Algorithm Regulation: Guardrails to prevent harm from AI systems.
- Anti-Monopoly Laws: Efforts to curb monopoly power and level the playing field in the digital ecosystem.
- Digital Service Taxes: Tools used by countries to ensure tech firms pay their fair share when operating within their jurisdiction.
- Revenue Sharing: Rules to ensure compensation to news publishers, content creators, and telecom operators from Internet-based platforms.
Here in the U.S., many similar policies to protect consumer rights and hold Big Tech companies accountable have been proposed or enacted at the federal and state levels. Thus, using tariff threats as a cudgel to pressure countries to change their laws will ultimately make it more difficult for U.S. policymakers to protect Americans from online harms.