People everywhere are cheering President Donald Trump’s vision of a revitalized American manufacturing sector achieved through an America-first trade policy.
For this strategy to work, for tariffs to force negotiations with our trading partners, Trump’s team needs to remove several institutional obstacles that may not be known to exist.
Much attention was given to the Court of International Trade’s recent decision challenging presidential power to levy tariffs. Yet another agency, the International Trade Commission, poses an institutional threat as significant to Trump’s decisive actions to level the global trading floor.
Established by Congress in 1916, the International Trade Commission has, chiefly through the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Trade Act of 1974, quasi-judicial authority that has significantly enhanced to the point where it may institute unfair import investigations under a provision commonly known as “Section 337.”
These most often involve disputes related to intellectual property. The International Trade Commission has historically played a crucial role in protecting American trade interests by blocking the importation of goods that infringe on patented technology when the domestic industry is impacted, and such action does not conflict with the broader public interest.
It is essential to emphasize this involves more than just simple patent disputes. In regular courts, various forms of mediation are available, depending on the specific issues being contested. In Section 337 cases before the agency, the only remedy that can be ordered altogether is to bar infringing products from U.S. markets.
In theory, this protects American industry from foreign companies that don’t respect our trade rules. Nevertheless, bad actors working on behalf of shadowy companies that employ no workers and typically rely on hidden sources of financing have found ways to deploy the International Trade Commission against companies operating in the U.S. They’re trying to monetize patents by convincing the agency to use its power to issue exclusion orders against actual producers.
These shell companies, often referred to as patent trolls because they sit under the proverbial bridge and demand ransom from productive companies, exploit the rules to reward undisclosed investors. They exist to acquire portfolios of old and weak patents, usually with the intent of bringing productive companies that create jobs and innovation in the United States before the International Trade Commission, in order to leverage a quick cash settlement of their claims.
Worse yet, these patent trolls are coming from overseas to harass U.S.-based companies, which is the opposite of America First. For the past several years, Irish patent trolls have targeted U.S. American companies by bringing aggressive campaigns. These cases often involve a tiny, insignificant piece of a semiconductor chip embedded inside a larger piece of technology, such as a smartphone or an electric vehicle. Based on the International Trade Commission’s exclusion order rules, this leaves open the possibility an entire model of phone or car cannot be sold in the United States.
It all must stop. Congress did not establish this agency to pay cash jackpots to shell companies that produce no goods or services or to burden, even upend, productive U.S. firms. The time for reform is now. Trump is reshaping the global trade order, driving investment in American industry that’s hastening economic growth. It’s a pivotal moment, and we can’t allow the International Trade Commission to drag it all backward by supercharging the patent trolls. It would hurt the industries Trump says he is trying to stimulate.
Some in Congress have taken notice. Over the last decade, several pieces of legislation have been introduced to reform the International Trade Commission. The Advancing America’s Interests Act would require that an operating U.S. company that practices the asserted patent must want relief from infringing imports and be part of a Section 337 proceeding. The bill also establishes a requirement that broader public interest be considered before the International Trade Commission can exclude products.
After years of discussing the importance of fully supporting future innovation, we now need real action in Congress to support what Trump is doing. Concerted action is necessary to halt the ability of patent trolls and other rogue actors to exploit government agencies at the expense of U.S. industry and consumers.
Copyright 2025 Peter Roff distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
