On October 16, 2017, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an update of its report The Economic Effects of Significant U.S. Import Restraints. The report is the ninth update in a series of reports to the USTR. The report estimates changes in U.S. welfare, output, employment, and trade that would result from the unilateral elimination of significant import restraints, including U.S. tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on certain agricultural products, textiles and apparel, and other manufactured products. The ITC estimates that liberalization of all significant import restraints quantified in this update would increase annual U.S. welfare by $3.2 billion by 2020. For the first time in this series of reports, this update examines the effects of import restraints on households with different incomes.
The effect of tariffs and of customs and border procedures on global supply chains is the subject of a special topic chapter in the report.
