Consumer tech products barely figure at all on the list of 352 exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on China that were reinstated Wednesday by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Of the newly granted 352 exclusions -- about 64% of those that were "eligible" for reinstatement because they previously had been extended -- most had expired at the end of 2020, but some had lapsed by midyear 2021.

Expect members of the Senate Commerce, Finance, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees to be named as China bill conferees (see 2203220074), Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters after Wednesday’s chips hearing.

The U.S. can’t go it alone on protecting technologies like 5G and supply chains and needs to work with Asia, Michael Green, Center for Strategic and International Studies senior vice president-Asia, said during a CSIS webinar Wednesday. Speakers warned the U.S. faces steep challenges if wants to separate the U.S. and Chinese economies to reduce risks.

Europe doesn't appear to be looking into communication companies' ties with Russia beyond sanctioning Russia Today and Sputnik, stakeholders said.

Supply chain constraints are not expected to moderate until 2023, said Snap One CEO John Heyman on a Q4 earnings call Tuesday. The company had expected in late fall that its supply chain issues would start to ease in second-half 2022, but “inflationary pressures,” events in Ukraine and a resurgence of COVID-19 in China, with resulting plant shutdowns, “have caused us more recent concern and those things have rippled through the supply chain,” Heyman said.

Roku is expanding its platform in its latest operating system to include digital photo frame capabilities and audio clarity features exclusive to Roku speakers and sound bars, the company said Tuesday. It will roll out the upgrade over the next few weeks, it said.

China is unlikely to violate U.S. sanctions against Russia because it fears the consequences of U.S. secondary sanctions, said Kevin Rudd, president of the Asia Society and former Australian prime minister. China also will likely avoid providing military support to Russia, Rudd said, because that could invite similar U.S. sanctions that could hurt its major state-run and private technology companies.

The past two years have shown that global supply chains “are very vulnerable,” and especially vulnerable to “external shocks” like pandemics and war, Young Tae Kim, secretary-general of the International Transport Forum, told the World Trade Organization’s Global Supply Chains Forum Monday. “Some vulnerabilities are the result of internal factors as well,” he said.

Big technology hurdles remain before hybrid constellations of geostationary orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) happen, satellite operators said Monday at the Satellite 2022 conference and trade show in Washington. Systems that are "orbit agnostic" might be "a dreamland," and interoperability between LEO and GEO will take some time to develop, said Arabsat Chief Strategy Officer Hadi Alhassani.

Out of necessity, consumers became more “channel agnostic” and “digital savvy” during the COVID-19 era, and they got used to it, a Retail TouchPoints virtual webinar was told Monday. Now, retailers have to think about how to continue to engage them differently, said Forrester Research analyst Brendan Witcher.