The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative extended for another six months to Nov. 30 its Section 301 tariff exclusions on 81 COVID-19 related product classifications from China that were due to expire at midnight Tuesday, said an agency notice late Friday afternoon. It was USTR’s second six-month extension on the import classifications covering “medical-care and/or COVID response” products, it said. “In light of the continuing efforts to combat COVID–19,” USTR determined that a six-month extension was “warranted,” it said. The decision took into account public comments previously provided, plus input from industry advisory committees and the interagency Section 301 committee, it said.
U.S. and EU collaboration in the Trade & Technology Council remains strong and has helped the regions coordinate actions against Russia, officials said Monday. The second TTC meeting, which took place May 15-16 in France, had several main outcomes, said the European Commission. Among them were a pact to make supply chains more resilient and an agreement to strengthen collaboration on swift and aligned export controls on advanced technologies such as aerospace and cyber-surveillance to undermine Russian attempts to boost industrial and military capabilities. It's in the interests of both parties to cooperate on all aspects of supply chains, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a briefing: "A certain level of coordination" aligned to TTC's goal of expanding the ecosystem is good for both sides. Other areas where the council has had progress include platform governance, where the EU and U.S. reaffirmed support for an open, global, interoperable, secure internet in line with their Declaration for the Future of Internet (see 2204280043); and trade barriers, where they will consider ways to increase trans-Atlantic trade and investment, and coordinate efforts to address non-market policies. Raimondo noted the group has had positive results in its first eight months, allowing it to push back against Russia. Because of the council's work on export controls, she said, the EU and U.S. were able to cut Russia off from all the advanced technology it needs to advance its operations, and they have now agreed to align technological standards in a way that will advance democratic values. The discussion of nonmarket economies such as China's has been an essential part of the partners' trade collaboration in the TTC, said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The council began by looking at nonmarket practices that involve state influence on a market economy but has now expanded its view to include Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That's a nonmarket decision that affects the entire world, Tai added. In less than a year, the "TTC has become a pillar of transatlantic cooperation," said President Joe Biden and EC President Ursula von der Leyen. In addition to the measures announced, the parties should use the council "to ensure new regulations are implemented in a non-discriminatory, transparent manner that limits unintended consequences," said the Computer & Communications Industry Association.
Office of U.S. Trade Representative taps New America’s Heather Hurlburt as chief of staff ... E-commerce platform Marketplacer taps Adobe’s Doug McIver as chief product officer, newly created role, and Tal Rotbart, ex-PageUp, as chief technology officer ... Yahoo announces former NerdWallet executive Tapan Bhat, also ex-News Corp and Adobe, as president-general manager, Yahoo Finance ... Telstra hires Zayo Group’s Noah Drake as president-the Americas.
Direct negotiations with China are, “at this point, unlikely to yield meaningful results” in curbing Beijing’s unfair trade practices, Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in written testimony at a hearing Thursday. “China has little incentive to commit to binding rules that will require structural changes to a system they believe works for their economic and political objectives,” she said.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai denied Thursday in a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the need she identified a day earlier before House Ways and Means to “turn the page on the old playbook” (see 2203300051) meant that the Biden administration was walking away from holding China accountable for its commitments under the phase one trade agreement. The U.S. needs to “stick with” phase one and enforce the agreement’s “dispute resolution” provisions, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Tai. “If we just say we’re going to forget that and make that part of the old playbook, I think it sends a terrible message,” said Portman, the former USTR under President George W. Bush. “When China makes an agreement with us, in order to fulfill their obligations, we have to exercise our legal rights.” The old playbook, responded Tai, “focused exclusively on pressuring China” to curb its bad trade behavior. “We are not giving up on pressing China,” she said. “All tools remain on the table with respect to dispute settlement and enforcement,” said Tai. “In fact, what I’m saying is we’re committing to doing more work, and our strategy needs to expand.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are negotiating to begin conference on the China package this work period, a Senate aide told us Monday (see 2203010077). The work period is scheduled to end April 8.
Amazon’s foreign sites were removed from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 2021 Notorious Markets List (see 2108270030 and2101140046), which was released Thursday. The platform’s British, German, French, Italian and Spanish sites were included in the 2020 report. The report “highlights online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.” China is the top country of origin for which U.S. Customs and Border protection seize counterfeit goods, the report said. The report flagged for the first time China’s AliExpress and the WeChat e-commerce platform. The report also flagged China’s Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine. DHgate, Pinduoduo and Taobao also made the list. The report draws attention to Singapore-based Fmovies, also known as Bmovies and BFlix, as “one of the most popular websites in the world for streaming pirated copies of popular movies and TV shows.” Russian websites RuTracker, Flvto and MP3juices also made the list. The report credits Brazil’s Operation 404 for its 334 piracy website takedowns, and India for taking the torrent site TamilRockers offline. The report highlights Vietnam’s ongoing investigation of Phimmoi.net, and credits Thailand for seizing more than 100 broadcasting and streaming devices, which were used for the Fwiptv pirating service. The report focused on “the adverse impact of counterfeiting on workers involved with the manufacture of counterfeit goods,” the USTR said. The USTR recommended “labor inspectors, labor-focused organizations, workers’ rights associations, and others target counterfeit manufacturing facilities for Enforcement.”
The House Rules Committee will consider several telecom- and tech-focused amendments to the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) Tuesday, for a potential floor vote on the measure later this week. The measure mirrors some elements of the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), including $52 billion in subsidies to encourage U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing (see 2201260062). Many proposed amendments aim to make changes to the chips language.
The U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council shouldn't be seen as a prelude to reentering talks for a comprehensive trade agreement, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told the Institute of International and European Affairs webinar Wednesday. Though Tai said she would never say never about a new U.S.-EU trade agreement, she thinks the TTC "is quite a comprehensive approach to the most pressing issues," and said she's enthusiastic about its responsiveness to current trade challenges. The TTC held its inaugural meeting Sept. 29 in Pittsburgh, where it agreed to set in motion 10 working groups to address specific tasks before it meets again in the spring (see 2110010037).
Thursday’s International Trade Commission vote was 4-0 to approve the final determination that Google devices infringe at least 17 claims in five Sonos multiroom audio patents (see 2201070022), said a voting sheet posted Monday in docket 337-TA-1191. Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein recused herself, as she did throughout the now-terminated Section 337 investigation into Sonos’ January 2020 complaint (see 2003050020). The ITC approved limited-exclusion and cease-and-desist orders on the infringing Google goods and ordered Google to pay 100% bond on imports of those goods during the 60-day review of the decision by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that runs through March 7.