Miller Urges USTR Ambassador to Address South Korea's Discriminatory Treatment of American Cloud Providers
March 5, 2026
Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) and her colleagues sent a letter to Ambassador Jamieson Greer, urging the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to take action against South Korea's discriminatory treatment of American cloud providers. The letter calls on Ambassador Greer to demand decisive action from Korea to end unfair restrictions that prevent U.S. companies from storing anything beyond low tier government data, effectively locking American firms out of a rapidly growing public sector cloud market, despite their platforms being trusted and used by governments worldwide.
The full letter can be found here.
Representatives who joined Miller in sending the letter include: Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Greg Steube (R-FL), Ron Estes (R-KS), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Mike Carey (R-OH), Rudy Yakym (R-IN), Max Miller (R-OH), Adrian Smith (R-NE), and David Schweikert (R-AZ).
“South Korea must honor the commitments it made with President Trump and his administration by opening its public sector cloud market to American providers. Korea’s current approach unfairly shuts U.S. companies out of a growing market and weakens American leadership in critical technologies. These discriminatory barriers violate our trade agreements and undermine fair competition. I am happy to lead this effort, and I thank my colleagues for joining me in holding Korea accountable," said Congresswoman Carol Miller.
"Representative Miller's support for opening up Korea's public sector cloud market is a welcome voice in addressing a decade-long problem that results in U.S. firms being unfairly denied access to a growing market—access critical to U.S. technological leadership, including in the global adoption of AI. We welcome attention to this issue by Congress and engagement by USTR, helping to ensure that U.S. firms can compete on fair terms in the Korean market," said Brian McMillan, Vice President of Federal Affairs, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).
"South Korea's Cloud Security Assurance Program is a non-tariff attack: a policy wrapped in the language of cybersecurity that in practice shuts American cloud providers out of a large and growing public sector market. Ambassador Greer should make clear that discriminatory barriers like CSAP are incompatible with the commitments Seoul made in the Strategic Trade and Investment Deal," said Daniel Castro, Vice President for the Center for Data Innovation at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).
"The Business Software Alliance appreciates Rep. Miller’s and cosigners’ leadership on ensuring that the Republic of Korea’s Cloud Security Assurance Program does not pose an artificial barrier to cloud service and AI adoption. We appreciate their constructive engagement with all stakeholders to support timely, workable solutions that uphold strong security outcomes while avoiding discriminatory or unnecessarily trade restrictive outcomes," said the Business Software Alliance.
The full letter can be found here.
Representatives who joined Miller in sending the letter include: Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Greg Steube (R-FL), Ron Estes (R-KS), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Mike Carey (R-OH), Rudy Yakym (R-IN), Max Miller (R-OH), Adrian Smith (R-NE), and David Schweikert (R-AZ).
“South Korea must honor the commitments it made with President Trump and his administration by opening its public sector cloud market to American providers. Korea’s current approach unfairly shuts U.S. companies out of a growing market and weakens American leadership in critical technologies. These discriminatory barriers violate our trade agreements and undermine fair competition. I am happy to lead this effort, and I thank my colleagues for joining me in holding Korea accountable," said Congresswoman Carol Miller.
"Representative Miller's support for opening up Korea's public sector cloud market is a welcome voice in addressing a decade-long problem that results in U.S. firms being unfairly denied access to a growing market—access critical to U.S. technological leadership, including in the global adoption of AI. We welcome attention to this issue by Congress and engagement by USTR, helping to ensure that U.S. firms can compete on fair terms in the Korean market," said Brian McMillan, Vice President of Federal Affairs, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).
"South Korea's Cloud Security Assurance Program is a non-tariff attack: a policy wrapped in the language of cybersecurity that in practice shuts American cloud providers out of a large and growing public sector market. Ambassador Greer should make clear that discriminatory barriers like CSAP are incompatible with the commitments Seoul made in the Strategic Trade and Investment Deal," said Daniel Castro, Vice President for the Center for Data Innovation at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).
"The Business Software Alliance appreciates Rep. Miller’s and cosigners’ leadership on ensuring that the Republic of Korea’s Cloud Security Assurance Program does not pose an artificial barrier to cloud service and AI adoption. We appreciate their constructive engagement with all stakeholders to support timely, workable solutions that uphold strong security outcomes while avoiding discriminatory or unnecessarily trade restrictive outcomes," said the Business Software Alliance.
“ITI appreciates the leadership of Congresswoman Carol Miller and her colleagues in sending this letter urging USTR Ambassador Greer to raise the Republic of Korea’s Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP) in the ongoing U.S.-Korea trade talks. The CSAP certification requirements continue to pose a barrier to trade for U.S. cloud service providers. Robust U.S. technological leadership depends in part on ensuring fair market access, and we welcome Congress’ efforts to promote consistency and reciprocity among U.S. trade partners," said Jason Oxman, President and CEO of ITI
Background
- Korea restricts which cloud providers may store government data based on the sensitivity of the data, allowing U.S. companies to handle only low tier government data limited to public information and front facing websites.
- Korea’s National Intelligence Service is moving to formalize data localization requirements that would permanently block U.S. cloud providers from serving the Korean government, actions that directly conflict with the Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and the Korea Strategic Trade and Investment Deal negotiated under President Donald Trump.
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