March 14 (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.