The NSA has repeatedly assured the public that it definitely does not perform economic espionage. It may collect metadata and communications from around the world and intercept shipments of computer hardware in order to install its own spying devices, but it doesn't perform espionage in service of American corporate interests.

This was the small thing that set our intelligence agencies slightly above similar agencies in China. Last August, the ODNI (Jame Clapper's office) sent this categorical denial in response to leaked documents. “The department does not engage in economic espionage in any domain, including cyber.” And then the truth came rolling in, thanks to Snowden's leaks.