The Trump administration “is committed to bold, decisive action” against China that protects U.S. national and economic security interests, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said during a virtual Bureau of Industry and Security conference on Sept. 2. He cited as evidence BIS' s additional export restrictions on Huawei (see 2008170029) and President Donald Trump’s Aug. 6 executive order banning U.S. transactions with the parent companies of TikTok and WeChat. “We each must remain alert to China’s malign behavior and that of other foreign entities that seek our sensitive technologies to damage our economic and national security,” Ross said. “China is a capable, effective and adaptable adversary with unconstrained resources, who regularly uses our American freedom and rules-based norms to advance its goal of dominating global markets.”
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
President Donald Trump issued a “Team Telecom” executive order on April 4 that formalizes the executive branch’s process for reviewing foreign takeovers of U.S. communications assets, but some observers questioned the extent to which it will alter the status quo. The departments of Homeland Security, Defense and Justice do those evaluations. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said the EO means the commission can advance a 2016 proposal to speed up the review process.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., introduced legislation on March 5 meant to make sure “U.S. communications infrastructure security is a clear negotiating objective of our country’s trade policy,” he said in a news release. “This legislation would ensure the security of equipment and technology that create the global communications infrastructure are front and center in our trade negotiations, because you can’t have free trade if the global digital infrastructure is compromised.”
Co-chairs of the Department of Homeland Security Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force urged House Homeland Security Committee members to consider enacting new liability protections and incentives to encourage companies and foreign governments to share information on threats to the supply chain. Committee leaders appeared interested, during an Oct. 16 hearing, in further protections. They invoked perceived supply-chain threats posed by Kaspersky Lab and Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE.