The United States has overcome several shocks since its last Trade Policy Review in 2001, helped by the contribution of its open and transparent trade regime to the highly efficient U.S. economy, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of the United States released January 16 by the WTO Secretariat. Recent U.S. macroeconomic policy has been directed, increasingly successfully, towards recovering and sustaining growth, with benefits to the global economy, including through trade transmission. But barriers to market access persist in a few, however important, areas: in particular, assistance to selected activities such as agriculture, steel, and textiles and clothing has burdened U.S. consumers, taxpayers and trade.