In recent years, the scope and number of the laws that guide U.S. trade policy have expanded as Congress and the president have sought new powers to deal with ever more-complex problems as well as an expanding definition of trade issues. In addition, as international trade in goods and services has increased, the problem of how to handle disputes that reach across borders has become even more important.

This issue of Economic Perspectives focuses on those laws that give the U.S. government specific powers to act against foreign barriers to U.S. exports and protect U.S. industries from unfair trade practices and unfairly traded goods.

As U.S. trade officials work to enforce U.S. trade laws, they see the World Trade Organization as offering an effective forum for settling many disputes.

There are other U.S. laws that seek to restrict trade for foreign policy and national security reasons or for other objectives not related to opening foreign markets or protecting U.S. industries from unfairly traded goods. These non-economic trade laws will be the subject of the next issue of Economic Perspectives.