The government's latest report on global trade barriers reflects the Trump administration’s renewed focus on forced labor and industrial overcapacity and offers some insight into ongoing trade negotiations and new agricultural grievances.

The significantly expanded National Trade Estimates (NTE) report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative published Tuesday provides the president and Congress with details on the policy barriers stymying U.S. exports in international markets. Chief Agricultural Trade Negotiator Julie Callahan refers to the annual report as the “encyclopedia of bad behavior.”

The newest iteration for 2026 is over a third longer than last year’s, at over 500 pages. And while part of the increased length is dedicated to outlining the commitments countries agreed to in the nine reciprocal trade deals, there are also a spate of new trade concerns listed.

“This year’s report highlights how the commitments secured in the Agreements on Reciprocal Trade are eliminating long-standing trade barriers and unlocking new markets with hundreds of millions of consumers for U.S. exporters,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “The Trump administration will continue to build on the momentum from the past year to address the unfair trade practices detailed in this report.”

A lot has changed in U.S. trade policy since last March, when the 2025 report was published. President Donald Trump imposed additional tariffs on almost every U.S. trading partner, then saw many of them fall when the Supreme Court determined that he had overstepped his presidential powers.

In the wake of that ruling, the administration has announced two new trade investigations into countries’ unfair trade practices that the administration has said could replace the axed tariffs, and is signaling more are on the way.

The first of those two investigations focused on partners’ efforts to curb forced labor in their supply chains and industrial overcapacity.

Both issues feature prominently in the latest NTE report. The phrase “excess capacity” is used 137 times, up from just 26 times in the 2025 iteration. Similarly, the use of the term “forced labor” has more than doubled.

Many countries' parts of the report now contain a designated “labor” section featuring some variation of language noting that they do “not have a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced or compulsory labor.” Accordingly, USTR argues, the lack of import curbs may “artificially suppress costs” and give those countries’ products an “unfair advantage.”

The report also reflects the administration’s industry-specific priorities. For example, in September, the administration announced tariffs on timber and other wood products over national security concerns. In the 2026 NTE report, countries' inaction on illegal logging receives much greater scrutiny.

“Illegal logging and trade in illegally harvested timber puts U.S. companies that comply with environmental laws at an unfair [dis]advantage, funds transnational criminal organizations, depresses global wood prices, and harms the environment and local communities,” reads a listing in the Brazil section of the report.

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Meanwhile, the section on India includes a complaint that New Delhi is “inconsistent” in enforcing its forestry and land use rules, and timber and palm oil companies have illegally expanded operations onto peatlands. U.S. biofuel, pulp and paper companies face “higher scrutiny and reputational risk for sourcing from the same landscapes,” the report argues.

This instance is not the only mention of threats to U.S. biofuel exports, and the industry appears to have received greater attention in the 2026 report. The document takes aim at a 2023 European Union regulation excluding biofuels made from food or feedstocks from its sustainable aviation fuel requirements for aircraft operators.

Overall, there are 47 mentions of ethanol in the 2026 report, up from 37 last year, and 28 mentions of biofuel, up from 19 in 2025.

The section on Vietnam also points out that U.S. officials have encouraged the Vietnamese government to expand its ethanol-blended gasoline use and reduce tariffs on imported ethanol. This is of particular note given the U.S. and Vietnam are still negotiating a reciprocal trade deal.

Further, the report says U.S. officials have also continued to raise Vietnam’s lack of approvals for U.S. facilities aiming to export certain offal products, like poultry gizzards and beef and pork stomachs, with their counterparts.

The report also sheds some light on some of the other U.S. agricultural priorities in ongoing negotiations.

The Canada section has two paragraphs dedicated to provinces’ pivot away from U.S. alcohol. Following the U.S. tariff hike on Canadian exports, territorial liquor control boards stopped buying U.S. beverages. Only Alberta and Saskatchewan have resumed stocking U.S. liquor since.

A new report from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States published Tuesday finds that U.S. exports to Canada from March to December fell year-on-year by 70% as a result – from $203 million to just $60 million.

“The United States continues to raise serious concerns regarding these actions and to press Canada to ensure that U.S. alcohol beverages immediately and permanently return to all provincial and territorial markets,” USTR’s NTE report reads.

The China section also includes a new entry this year on Beijing’s ban on U.S. bovine semen, ostensibly over fears of bluetongue virus (BTV) – "despite over a decade of safe sales of this product to China and no recent change in the United States’ BTV status.”

It also raises new concerns about China's classification of potatoes as a grain crop, which places additional quarantine requirements on imported U.S. chipping potatoes.

The United Kingdom section also reflects growing concern from the Trump administration over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government’s interest in pursuing closer alignment with the European Union.  

Both governments last year announced they would work on an agreement to establish a common sanitary and phytosanitary area. A UK parliamentary committee opened up a public comment period to help inform the government’s “dynamic alignment” approach earlier this month.  

“The United States is concerned that existing UK measures, and the likely future dynamic alignment with the EU, unnecessarily restrict trade without furthering safety objectives,” USTR writes in its NTE report. “They appear to be applied beyond the extent necessary to protect human, animal, or plant life or health, or appear to be not based on risk or science."

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