Trump and Ishiba is licensed under Creative Commons.
On Aug 5th, Americans for Tax Reform organized a coalition of center-right organizations thanking President Trump and his administration for their continued fight against foreign, discriminatory trade practices.
The coalition urges President Trump to continue this mission by taking action against Japan’s recently enacted “Smartphone Act.” In its current form, the Japanese Smartphone Act unfairly targets American technology companies while advantaging Japanese and Chinese competitors.
The act aims to regulate app stores in order to spur competition and innovation, but through the use of targeted language, the provisions of the bill are narrowly tailored to fall solely on American companies. The targeted nature of the bill constitutes a thinly veiled attack on American business, burdening them with disproportionate compliance costs and regulatory burdens.
These regulations never result in more competition, innovation, or even consumer safety.
Similar to Europe’s Digital Markets Act, the Japanese Smartphone Act sets steep fines and harsh penalties under conditions that are often left vague and difficult to satisfy. By doing so, Japanese regulators are left unchecked to levy exorbitant fines ranging from 20–30% of a company’s revenue. Under the guise of promoting competition, Japanese regulators aim to profit off the backs of American success.
For Japan and the U.S. to nurture a truly free, fair-trade relationship to the benefit of both, highly discriminatory policies such as the Smartphone Act must be the first to go. Such policies restrict market access for American companies, raise compliance costs, and risk extortionary fees.
American companies should have the same market access to Japan as their domestic and foreign competitors and be regulated under the same framework.
This coalition believes that the U.S.-Japan trade relationship must be corrected for the better, allowing American companies to freely compete in global markets. We hope that, in implementing the recent trade deal, repealing disastrous laws such as the Smartphone Act is given top priority.
Read the full letter here.
