Elon Musk’s SpaceX asks US to address foreign trade barriers

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(Reuters) – SpaceX has urged the U.S. to address trade barriers affecting its Starlink satellite communications service in foreign countries, arguing that competitors from abroad face no import costs in the country.

The Elon Musk-owned company said that it has to pay foreign governments for access to spectrum, import duties on Starlink equipment and other regulatory fees, which “artificially” inflate operating costs abroad.

Starlink operates in more than 120 markets worldwide, though in some countries, SpaceX must coordinate spectrum sharing with domestic satellite operators before activating service.

The company described the requirements as a “protectionist non-tariff trade barrier,” in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office dated Tuesday.

“These anti-competitive policies have been used by foreign operators to block or slow SpaceX from providing a better quality and lower cost service to customers in those countries,” Matt Dunn, SpaceX’s senior director for global government affairs said in the letter.

SpaceX’s concerns come amid broader tensions involving trade barriers for American companies.

U.S. automaker Tesla, which is also led by Musk, warned on Friday that it and other major American exporters are exposed to retaliatory tariffs stemming from aggressive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on goods from countries like Canada, China, and the EU.

Musk is a close ally of Trump and has been leading the White House effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The billionaire heads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Tasim Zahid)