Former Commissioners Assess an ITC Probe of Trade and the Underserved

Shara Aranoff spoke with Inside Trade about U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's recent call for a study of how trade impacts underserved communities. Shara mentioned that although there have been previous calls to the ITC for deeper analysis on "labor effects," this recent request "probably steps that type of request up to a new level."

She explained that the ITC's analysis of trade agreements over time has become increasingly granular and sophisticated. A focus on the effect of changes in tariff levels a few decades ago has progressed recently as policymaker concerns have shifted to "much broader, non-tariff issues," resulting in an analysis of harder-to-quantify impacts.

For example, Shara said, the ITC has expanded its technical capabilities to better examine trade in services -- in addition to trade in goods -- as well as non-tariff barriers on a sector-by-sector basis. She added, "they worked on, for example, the financial services sector until they figured out a good way to measure that, and then they've moved on to a number of other sectors."