September 7, 2021
News Release 21-112
Bulletin 163-1
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
USITC Releases The Year in Trade 2020

The unique global trade environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is a focus of The Year in Trade 2020, released today by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC).

This year’s publication includes highlights of global macroeconomic and trade trends during the pandemic and reports on its impact on key sectors.

The USITC's The Year in Trade, published annually, is one of the government's most comprehensive reports regarding activities related to U.S. trade policies, agreements, and trade laws. This report is the 72nd in a series of annual reports submitted to the U.S. Congress under section 163(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2213(c)) and its predecessor legislation.

In addition to the global pandemic overview, The Year in Trade 2020 reviews:

  • U.S. international trade laws and actions under these laws, including U.S. antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, intellectual property rights infringement, national security, and section 301 cases active in 2020; 

  • the operation of U.S. trade preference programs, including the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Nepal Trade Preferences Act, and the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, including initiatives for Haiti;

  • World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement decisions and other significant activities in the WTO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreements;

  • negotiations on agreements with Japan, Kenya, the European Union, and the United Kingdom; the implementation of the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement; and developments regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement and other U.S. FTAs already in effect; and

  • bilateral trade issues with selected major U.S. trading partners -- the European Union, China, Mexico, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and India.

The report also provides an overview of U.S. trade in goods and services during 2020. Statistical tables highlight U.S. bilateral trade with major trading partners and trade under U.S. trade preference programs and FTAs.

The Year in Trade 2020 (USITC Publication 5228, September 2021) will be posted on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/332/pub5228.pdf.

A set of interactive, web-based presentations of underlying data is also available at:

 

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