International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged the commerce secretary to talk to First Solar, which is headquartered in his state, before finalizing the rule to temporarily waive duties or deposit collection on imported solar panels and cells from Southeast Asia. Auxin Solar, a small solar panel producer, is asking Commerce to find that those panels are really Chinese in origin, and should be subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders against Chinese solar products.
About quarter of the comments on how to implement an executive order on possible anti-circumvention duties on solar panel and cell imports say that the executive order is illegal or, at best, legally strained, and that Commerce cannot waive duty collections because that is contrary to its mission to protect domestic manufacturing through trade remedies.
Industry sought improved coordination and transparency through the FCC, USDA and NTIA’s interagency agreement established under the Broadband Interagency Coordination Act of 2020. Some asked the agencies to make the shared information available publicly and to increase reliance on the FCC’s maps when coordinating broadband programs, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 22-251.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an FCC motion to extend abeyance on a lawsuit by the League of California Cities challenging the FCC’s June 2020 wireless infrastructure declaratory ruling. Proceedings are stayed until Nov. 14, the court said Thursday. The FCC sought more time to get to five commissioners (see 2207130052).
The Lifeline minimum service standard for fixed broadband data will be 1,280 GB per month, beginning Dec. 1, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 11-42. The bureau extended its pause on the mobile broadband data minimum service standard until "at least" Dec. 1, 2023. The indexed budget for Lifeline beginning Jan. 1 will be $2.6 billion.
Although President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump's China tariffs on the campaign trail, Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow Chad Bown said he always thought it was unlikely Biden would roll any of them back, because there are "huge political costs" to doing so, because opponents could label you as "weak on China."
Best Buy updated its comparable-sales guidance Wednesday for fiscal Q2 ending Aug. 1, saying it now expects a 13% decline vs. 19.6% sales growth in the year-earlier quarter. In May, Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas said the retailer expected Q2 comp sales to be "very similar" to the 8.5% Q1 comp sales decline. CEO Corie Barry noted Wednesday that the retailer expected FY 2023 financial results to be “softer than last year as we lap government stimulus support and unusually strong consumer electronics industry demand.” As high inflation has continued “and consumer sentiment has deteriorated, customer demand within the consumer electronics industry has softened even further, leading to Q2 financial results below the expectations we shared in May," she said. Best Buy “remains committed to its quarterly dividend of $0.88 per share” but has paused share repurchases. The company reports Q2 results Aug. 30.
Although President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump's China tariffs on the campaign trail, Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow Chad Bown said he always thought it was unlikely Biden would roll any of them back, because there are "huge political costs" to doing so, because opponents could label you as "weak on China."
The Missouri Public Service Commission will continue suspending state USF assessments for the rest of the year, the PSC said Friday. Commissioners agreed 5-0 to the order in docket TO-2019-0346. The USF surcharge will return at a rate of 0.15% Jan. 1, it said. The PSC first suspended the rate Jan. 1, 2020, and the freeze had been set to expire Sept. 30. The commission had considered raising monthly state USF support for voice-only Lifeline services to $24 last year from $18.75 if the FCC stopped paying $5.25, but the FCC paused phasedown until Dec. 1 this year (see 2111050058). Meanwhile, the Wyoming Public Service Commission plans to vote Tuesday on a proposal (docket 90072-49-XO-22) to keep the state USF surcharge at 2.7% for the fiscal year starting July 1, said a Thursday agenda. In an attached May 24 memo, Wyoming USF Manager Melisa Mizel recommended paying monthly distributions of $11,394.70 to All West Communications, Chugwater Telephone, Lumen, Silver Star Telephone and Union Telephone.