October 14, 2025

Export Controls and U.S. Trade Policy: Making Sense of the New Terrain

By: Geoffrey Gertz and Thomas Krueger

This article was originally published in Just Security.

U.S. export controls are evolving from a narrow national security tool to a broader trade policy instrument, reflecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s willingness to blend economic and national security negotiations and such controls’ growing impact on economic growth, technological leadership, and geopolitical influence.Trade policy experts are now scrambling to learn the world of export controls, which were a key sticking point in a series of high-stakes trade negotiations this summer between U.S. and Chinese officials.

If the administration wants to liberalize export controls to lower trade imbalances and as a carrot in trade negotiations, there are ways to do so without endangering U.S. national security.

For the national security community, however, this shift may portend even more dramatic changes: deploying export controls as a multi-purpose instrument creates risks for core U.S. security interests, including the perception that national security can be traded away for commercial gain. To alleviate such risks, U.S. policymakers should clarify which national security export controls are not up for negotiation and reassure allies and the private sector that export control policy will be applied consistently and predictably.

Read the full article in Just Security.

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