Tech groups generally hailed Saturday’s White House announcement that the Trump administration won’t raise the third tranche of 10 percent Section 301 tariffs to 25 percent as planned Jan. 1, giving U.S. and Chinese negotiators 90 days to work out a comprehensive deal to curb China’s allegedly unfair trade practices. Some groups complained that left buried under the positive headlines President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping generated at the G-20 summit was that three rounds of 10-25 percent tariffs imposed since early July will remain in force indefinitely.

A 90-day pause in implementing increased Section 301 tariffs will run from Dec. 1, the White House said as it corrected the record the evening of Dec. 3. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow had erroneously said that the 90-day delay in increasing tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports would start Jan. 1. That was the day that tariffs were scheduled to rise from an additional 10 percent on the base rate to 25 percent. Jennifer Hillman, a Georgetown Law professor and former general counsel at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, tweeted that the Federal Register will have to be updated to reflect the new deadline, which should fall around March 1.

The Trump administration is promising not to hike tariffs on China until the end of March 2019, so ports, retailers, the apparel industry and other business interests are breathing a sigh of relief. The administration described it as a 90-day pause in the conflict so that the two sides could have time to negotiate structural changes in China's economic approach, but it's actually 120 days, because the 90-day clock starts on Jan. 1, 2019, according to Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic adviser. That is the day the 10 percent tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports was scheduled to increase to 25 percent.

President Donald Trump, who will be meeting with China's president in Argentina, told reporters as he departed Nov. 29, "I think we’re very close to doing something with China, but I don’t know that I want to do it. Because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes. So I really don’t know. But I will tell you that I think China wants to make a deal. I’m open to making a deal. But frankly I like the deal that we have right now." A Nov. 29 report from The Wall Street Journal said that Trump is considering pausing the tariff escalation through the spring as the two countries talk about structural changes to China's economic policy. But Trump just told the Journal four days ago that it was very unlikely he'd pause the increase in tariffs on the third tranche of Chinese imports. Currently, they're at 10 percent, and are scheduled to increase to 25 percent Jan. 1, 2019. The Journal noted in its report about the possible detente that the administration is wary of being stalled by China, as has happened with many previous administrations who complained about China's abuses.

Investigate “deceptive and misleading” location-tracking practices of Android users by Google, more than 75 consumer groups wrote the FTC Tuesday. Citing a Norwegian Consumer Council report, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) claimed Google “manipulates and nudges users” into constant tracking via location history and activity online and through apps, which is applied across all Google accounts and violates the EU’s general data protection regulation. Among claims: users are pushed into location history tracking without knowing, misled about the extent of data collection, and default settings are hidden. TACD includes the Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Electronic Privacy Information Center. A Google spokesperson emailed that location history is turned off by default, and users can edit, delete or pause it. If paused, depending on individual settings, the company might collect and use location data to “improve your Google experience,” the spokesperson said: “We’re constantly working to improve our controls, and we'll be reading this report closely to see if there are things we can take on board.” The FTC received the letter, its spokesperson said.

Investigate “deceptive and misleading” location-tracking practices of Android users by Google, more than 75 consumer groups wrote the FTC Tuesday. Citing a Norwegian Consumer Council report, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) claimed Google “manipulates and nudges users” into constant tracking via location history and activity online and through apps, which is applied across all Google accounts and violates the EU’s general data protection regulation. Among claims: users are pushed into location history tracking without knowing, misled about the extent of data collection, and default settings are hidden. TACD includes the Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Electronic Privacy Information Center. A Google spokesperson emailed that location history is turned off by default, and users can edit, delete or pause it. If paused, depending on individual settings, the company might collect and use location data to “improve your Google experience,” the spokesperson said: “We’re constantly working to improve our controls, and we'll be reading this report closely to see if there are things we can take on board.” The FTC received the letter, its spokesperson said.

Investigate “deceptive and misleading” location-tracking practices of Android users by Google, more than 75 consumer groups wrote the FTC Tuesday. Citing a Norwegian Consumer Council report, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) claimed Google “manipulates and nudges users” into constant tracking via location history and activity online and through apps, which is applied across all Google accounts and violates the EU’s general data protection regulation. Among claims: users are pushed into location history tracking without knowing, misled about the extent of data collection, and default settings are hidden. TACD includes the Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Electronic Privacy Information Center. A Google spokesperson emailed that location history is turned off by default, and users can edit, delete or pause it. If paused, depending on individual settings, the company might collect and use location data to “improve your Google experience,” the spokesperson said: “We’re constantly working to improve our controls, and we'll be reading this report closely to see if there are things we can take on board.” The FTC received the letter, its spokesperson said.

A former Office of the U.S. Trade Representative deputy predicted that the president of China and President Donald Trump would meet in the middle at the G-20 in Argentina, neither resolving the problems between the two countries nor declaring an impasse. He did not sound as confident that some kind of progress would be enough to halt the escalation in tariffs. "I think the signals from both countries are [that] they know this is an opportunity," Robert Holleyman said, as he opened a Nov. 28 Tariff Town Hall sponsored by tuna canneries. "I hope this gets us out of the current morass."

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should suspend review of Portland, Oregon's challenge to an FCC ban on local moratoriums of wireless infrastructure deployments, replied (in Pacer) the agency Wednesday in Portland v. FCC, No. 18-72689. Three petitions for reconsideration are at the commission on "issues identical to those presented here," the regulator noted: "Because resolution of the FCC’s reconsideration proceeding may limit or modify the needed scope of judicial review, the Court should grant the FCC’s motion for abeyance."

Video relay service providers pressed the FCC to pause interoperability obligations and let them serve VRS users while users' verification is pending through a telecom relay service user registration database. A "limited" waiver suspending temporarily implementation of a VRS Access Technology Reference Platform (VATRP App) and associated technical specifications (RUE Profile) is justified, given "diverging trends" and the absence of "any interoperability problem or consumer need," filed ASL Services (Global VRS), Convo Communications, CSDVRS (ZVRS), Purple Communications and Sorenson Communications on meeting staffers of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Managing Director, Friday in docket 10-51. Even though providers have "successfully" addressed interoperability issues, the VATRP App and Rue Profile requirements "expanded beyond the original scope that the Commission conceived in 2013 as a testing tool for interoperability, adding new 'features' that providers must support, at the cost of millions to the [TRS] Fund and the Providers."