<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/reports/new-investigative-report-from-senator-warren-reveals-big-techs-insider-influence-on-digital-trade-rules" class="">https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/reports/new-investigative-report-from-senator-warren-reveals-big-techs-insider-influence-on-digital-trade-rules</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h1 class="main_page_title">New Investigative Report from Senator Warren Reveals Big Tech’s Insider Influence on Digital Trade Rules</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle">Newly Released Emails Reveal Big Tech’s Secret
Communications with Biden Administration Trade Policymakers and Abuse of
the Revolving Door
“Big Tech’s unparalleled access to trade policymakers has serious
implications for policy outcomes - including digital trade rules that
could undermine efforts to enact commonsense tech regulation.”</h2><p style="text-align: center;" class=""><a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/download/ustr-report" class="">Report – Big Tech’s Big Con: Rigging Digital Trade Rules to Block Antitrust Regulation (PDF)</a></p><p class=""><strong class="">Washington, D.C. – </strong>Ahead of the next round of
negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), U.S. Senator
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a new 22-page investigative report:
Big Tech’s Big Con: Rigging Digital Trade Rules to Block Antitrust
Regulation. The investigation, based on a review of previously
undisclosed emails, reveals that Big Tech is using its revolving door
hires to gain backdoor access to key United States Trade Representative
(USTR) and Commerce Department officials, undermining the Biden
Administration’s promises to end rigged trade deals and protect workers,
consumers, and the environment. </p><p class="">Trade deals, including digital trade deals, have long been negotiated
in secret. Corporate lobbyists have weighed in behind closed doors
while the public and Congress are left out, producing trade rules that
reward offshoring and sell out hardworking Americans. Over the past
decade, Big Tech firms have used their insider access to heavily
influence agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and secure
binding rules that overwhelmingly favor their interests and hurt
consumers, workers, and small businesses. Tech lobbyists are now trying
to rig digital rules under negotiation in the Indo-Pacific Economic
Framework (IPEF).</p><p class="">“At this critical time, Big Tech is working to undermine the Biden
trade and competition agenda and instead push trade negotiators to
pre-empt domestic and international regulatory efforts, hiring dozens of
former government officials and lobbyists to gain insider access to
U.S. trade officials and influence trade negotiations – and this report
contains new evidence of the extent to which they have been effective,” <strong class="">said the report.</strong></p><p class="">The report contains findings from a previously undisclosed tranche of
email communications between high-level U.S trade officials and Big
Tech firms that point to Big Tech’s significant influence over USTR
during the Biden Administration.</p><p class="">The report findings show that:</p>
<ul type="disc" class="">
<li class=""><strong class="">Big Tech’s revolving door hires continue to receive
behind-the-scenes access to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and
other top USTR officials</strong>. New emails reveal numerous examples
of Big Tech getting special access, including a former Deputy USTR and
Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Michael Punke, hired at
Amazon, who in June 2021 was asked for his availability to meet with
Ambassador Tai “in your personal capacity” to discuss “your time in
Geneva and how you approached the job.” Follow-up emails indicated that
substantive trade issues were discussed during the agenda planning for
that meeting. </li>
<li class=""><strong class="">Big Tech uses its special revolving door access to furtively push for rigged trade policies. </strong>The
newly revealed emails provide numerous examples of Big Tech’s private
communications with key U.S. trade officials – and those officials
acting to address these special interest concerns. </li>
<li class=""><strong class="">USTR is granting special insider status to Big Tech lobbyists during every step of IPEF negotiations. </strong>The
newly released emails show that USTR is actively seeking private
guidance from Big Tech as it seeks to negotiate the IPEF – access that
is generally not provided to the public. </li>
</ul><p class="">“The findings of this investigation show that despite taking
significant steps to give labor and environmental interests a voice in
trade negotiations, USTR and the Commerce Department are still providing
a backdoor to Big Tech companies through the revolving door,” <strong class="">said the report</strong>.
“Big Tech is using its influence to stymie transnational regulatory
efforts and preempt further regulation at home and abroad through trade
negotiations.”</p><p class="">In the report, Senator Warren offered four recommendations in order
to address the ongoing corporate influence-peddling and ensure trade
policymakers are working on behalf of the American people.</p>
<ol type="1" start="1" class="">
<li class="">USTR and the Commerce Department must reject the Big Tech digital
trade agenda and ensure that any IPEF digital trade rules complement –
rather than conflict with – policymakers’ efforts to promote competition
in the digital economy, regulate AI, and protect online privacy.</li>
<li class="">USTR should make IPEF texts public, eliminating the secrecy that Big
Tech has used to furtively drive its agenda with key officials. </li>
<li class="">The Commerce Department and USTR should commit to transparency on
all public engagement in order to combat Big Tech’s secret influence
peddling, including visitor logs, public appearances, and informal modes
of external engagement. </li>
<li class="">The Biden Administration and federal trade agencies should work to
implement strong ethics reforms that will padlock the decades-long
revolving door between large corporations and trade agencies, and
Congress should pass Senator Warren’s <em class="">Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act</em>,
which has critical guardrails that would address these problems at the
source by boosting transparency, strengthening ethics rules and
enforcement, and fixing federal open records laws. </li>
</ol><p class="">“Americans deserve to know what trade negotiators are up to and that they are working in the public interest,” <strong class="">said the report</strong>.
“This report urges USTR and the Commerce Department to take these
additional critical steps to ensure the Biden Administration lives up to
its commitments to a worker-centered trade policy and a
whole-of-government approach to promoting competition in the U.S.
economy.”</p><p class="">Senator Warren has long pushed for trade policy that benefits American workers, not corporate interests:</p>
<ul type="disc" class="">
<li class="">On April 24, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/senator-warren-lawmakers-reiterate-concern-over-big-tech-pushing-digital-trade-rules-that-conflict-with-biden-competition-agenda-and-pending-legislation" class="">led</a>
six of her colleagues in sending a letter to the U.S. Trade
Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina
Raimondo, reiterating concerns about the impact that including skewed
digital trade rules in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for
Prosperity (IPEF) will have on the U.S. government’s ability to promote
competition, regulate AI, and protect consumer and worker privacy.</li>
<li class="">On March 23, 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren <a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/a880f58b611af9a23697f91d4271aed6/3548134878/realurl=https:/www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/at-hearing-senator-warren-questions-us-trade-representative-on-digital-policy-concerns-and-lack-of-transparency" class="">questioned</a>S.
Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai on the agency’s approach to
digital trade policy in enforcement of existing rules and negotiation of
the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).</li>
<li class="">In October 2022, Senator Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)<a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/a880f58b611af9a23697f91d4271aed6/3548134878/realurl=https:/www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/senator-warren-and-representative-jayapal-press-secretary-raimondo-for-answers-on-big-tech-revolving-door-at-commerce-department" class=""> sent</a> a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo underscoring the dangers of Big Tech’s digital trade agenda.</li>
<li class="">In August 2022, Senator Warren and Representative Rosa DeLauro<a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/a880f58b611af9a23697f91d4271aed6/3548134878/realurl=https:/www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-delauro-call-for-better-engagement-with-congress-public-on-proposed-indo-pacific-and-americas-trade-deals-no-tpp-20" class=""> sent</a>
a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Secretary of
Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and National
Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, requesting that the agencies involved
engage in robust consultation with Congress and outside stakeholders on
the recently announced Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and
Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP), and urging them
learn from the failures of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).</li>
<li class="">In July 21, 2022, Senator Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)<a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/a880f58b611af9a23697f91d4271aed6/3548134878/realurl=https:/www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-jayapal-question-raimondo-on-big-tech-revolving-door-at-department-of-commerce-and-its-impact-on-global-digital-trade-rules" class=""> sent</a>
a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo
raising questions about the revolving door between the Department of
Commerce and Big Tech companies, and its potential impact on global
digital trade rules.</li>
<li class="">On April 12, 2022, Senators Warren and Bob Casey<a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/a880f58b611af9a23697f91d4271aed6/3548134878/realurl=https:/www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-casey-raise-concerns-with-commerce-secretary-raimondos-approach-to-new-indo-pacific-trade-deal-should-benefit-american-workers-not-corporate-offshoring" class=""> sent</a>
letters to USTR Katherine Tai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina
Raimondo regarding their plans to negotiate an Indo-Pacific Economic
Framework (IPEF) and how this new trade deal may impact U.S. workers. </li>
<li class="">In April 2022, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren<a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/a880f58b611af9a23697f91d4271aed6/3548134878/realurl=https:/www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-at-hearing-ambassador-tai-commits-to-progressive-worker-centered-trade-policy" class=""> secured</a>
a commitment from Ambassador Katherine Tai to bring a progressive,
worker-centered approach to trade policy in her role as U.S. Trade
Representative. </li>
<li class="">In March 2022, Senator Warren <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/it-was-great-joining-seccardona-mayorwu-parents-and-community-leaders-at-hernndez-k-8-elementary-school-in-roxbury-we-talked-about-the-importance-of-multilingual-learning_how-the-american-rescue-plan-has-made-investments-in-mental-health-support-for-students-possible" class="">sent</a>
a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urging
her to respond to the senator’s December 2021 letter seeking
clarification about remarks the Secretary made in a statement to the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce regarding regulation of big tech companies by
the European Union (EU).</li>
<li class="">In December 2023, Senator Warren <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-calls-on-secretary-raimondo-to-clarify-comments-on-eu-regulation-of-tech-giants-that-appeared-to-undermine-biden-admins-regulatory-and-trade-policies" class="">sent</a>
a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo
expressing concern about remarks the Secretary made in a video statement
to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about potential regulation of large
tech companies by EU authorities.</li>
</ul><p style="text-align: center;" class="">###</p><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
</div>
<br class=""></div></body></html>