Press Memo: Latest Trump Trade Chaos Punishes Canada, Inks Corporate-Friendly Deal With Jordan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ahead of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s testimony before the Senate Finance Committee this week, the administration has doubled down on tariff chaos and secretive trade dealmaking that includes massive corporate giveaways.
Trump’s announcement of 50% tariffs on goods from Canada (after his bizarre tariff threats over Canadian wildfires), paired with the announcement of the completion of yet another asymmetrical so-called “agreement on reciprocal trade” without any meaningful public or congressional consultation process, will make it even more awkward for Greer as he tries to defend a policy that is out of touch with the real needs of Americans.
Across the Atlantic, the U.S.-Jordan Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) deal continues the same pattern Trump’s other ARTs in pushing the agenda of U.S. corporate giants, forcing the other country to accept a host of concessions in exchange for little tangible benefit.
As in the other ARTs, Jordan agrees to accept U.S. health and safety standards on a slew of imports with no possibility for additional checks or even labeling. (A note to other countries considering ARTs: maybe wait until the cyclospora outbreak has subsided before you agree to adopt U.S. food safety standards).
And unsurprisingly, the deal continues Big Tech’s playbook by:
- Barring Jordan from implementing taxes on digital services being provided within its borders or customs duties on electronic transmissions, thereby denying the country a legitimate source of revenue and helping Big Tech companies to avoid paying their fair share.
- Restricting regulators from reviewing algorithms or source code before they are released to the public, which will limit efforts to enhance transparency and accountability of software and AI systems.
- Restraining efforts to implement digital competition, platform accountability or online safety regulations that could be (mis)construed to discriminate against U.S. tech giants.
- Requiring Jordan to ensure unimpeded data flows to the U.S., including by recognizing the “adequacy” of U.S. data protection frameworks in its domestic privacy law, thereby exposing personal data of Jordanians to exploitation by Big Tech companies.