USTR Reports to Congress on Administration’s 2026 Trade Policy
Earlier this week, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer delivered President Trump’s 2026 Trade Policy Agenda and 2025 Annual Report to Congress, which is required each year at the beginning of March, and there were a few references to steel trade. Overall, in a press statement the USTR maintained that “The Trump Administration is doubling down on the America First Trade Policy in 2026 to capitalize on the wins from 2025 and keep momentum going for American workers, their families, and the US economy.”
The report notes that in 2025, “the United States surpassed Japan in crude steel production for the first time since 1999, becoming the world’s third-largest steel producer behind China and India.”
Steel is also included among several sectors identified by the Department of Commerce pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. “The United States will continue to pursue resilience of its critical supply chains by reshoring industry and diversifying trade in these sectors,” the report notes.
“President Trump continues to flip the script on forty years of non-reciprocal trade practices and harmful globalist policies, eliminating long-standing barriers and strengthening our workers’ competitiveness,” said Ambassador Greer. “This year’s Trade Policy Agenda outlines how the Administration will capitalize off the success from the past year, advancing the prosperity of Americans today and the generations to follow,” he added in a statement.
According to the report, the Trump Administration — working closely with Congress and American workers, farmers, ranchers, producers, and service-providers — will focus on six core areas to advance the “America First Trade Policy”:
• Continue the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) Program;
• Pursue robust enforcement of ARTs, other trade agreements, and United States trade laws;
• Secure supply chains for critical minerals and sectors;
• Conduct the review of the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA);
• Manage trade with China for reciprocity and balance; and • Promote American interests in international forums.
The USTR report acknowledges the USMCA was “an important step in rebalancing our economic relationships with Mexico and Canada, but many problems require resolution.” For example, the report contends:
• The United States not only continues to run large trade deficits with both Mexico and Canada, but those deficits have also increased since the entry into force of USMCA;
• Mexico has adopted a series of preferential measures to benefit national champions in its energy and mining sectors, particularly concerning oil, gas, and electricity, to the detriment of U.S. investors;
• Mexico has undermined its overall investment climate;
• Mexico’s inadequate labor laws and lax protection of such laws continue to undermine U.S. workers;
• Canada continues to maintain policies that violate its USMCA dairy market access commitments, and
• Canada maintains discriminatory and restrictive digital measures, including its Online Streaming Act.