American Ally Has Gone Beyond Tariffs To Inflict Pain On US Businesses

(Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

The trade debate in Washington has been dominated by tariffs for years. 

They drive headlines and shape negotiations, yet if policymakers are serious about protecting American competitiveness, they need to look beyond tariffs to the growing challenge U.S. businesses are facing overseas: discriminatory non-tariff barriers.

Non-tariff barriers come in the form of selective regulation, politically motivated investigations, digital restrictions and enforcement actions that disproportionately target American companies while favoring domestic competitors.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee released a report that shines a spotlight on how South Korean regulators used the full weight of their government to stifle an American that has invested billions of dollars in South Korea and become one of its largest private employers.

According to the Committee, Korean authorities framed a limited data breach as a national security crisis while treating more serious incidents involving domestic companies differently. The report describes what followed as a “whole-of-government assault”........

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