The Office of the U.S Trade Representative is set to publish a notice Feb. 5 some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China (see 2001020013). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
China announced tariff-rate quotas for fertilizer imports for 2020, according to a Nov. 15 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. China will set its quotas at 3.3 million tons of urea, 6.9 million tons of diamond phosphate and 3.45 million tons of compound fertilizers. The TRQ will be 1 percent for all three items, HKTDC said. Chinese authorities will accept applications and issue certificates for the quotas starting Dec. 15.
More than a dozen companies and business groups have submitted comments ahead of an Oct. 2 hearing on how China is complying with World Trade Organization protocols -- and they all agree China has work to do.
There were questions about 5G, how it will look in rural markets and if it could help or hurt the digital divide, at a conference Wednesday in Providence, Rhode Island. GCI will "have to look outside the box to figure out what solutions that we’re not currently thinking of are going to work in a lot of these markets,” said Kara Azocar, regulatory counsel-federal affairs. “We have to be innovative,” she told the Competitive Carriers Association conference. “Will 5G exacerbate an urban-rural divide on connectivity and are we going to end up with a second tier internet once you get out of the cities?” asked David Goldman, SpaceX director-satellite policy. “It doesn’t have to be that way.” Service in rural areas “will take work,” he said. “It’s going to take solutions that haven’t necessarily been the ones that you had thought of for previous generations.” ACA member GCI exists because it wants to bring the same services as in urban areas, said Rob Shema, the association's executive vice president-member services and finance. Rural providers haven’t “quite figured out” 5G in rural places, “but they will,” he said. “When folks say that 5G is not going to exist in rural America, that’s completely false,” Shema said: “It may look different and feel different.” At the low end, the industrial IoT will have as much combined value as the entire communications industry today, Tod Sizer, Nokia Bell Labs vice president-smart optical fabric and device research, said Wednesday. In Germany, wireless robots are transforming manufacturing, Sizer said. “They found that the wired robots were just getting in the way.” Industrial IoT will have lots of opportunity in the mining industry, he said, where “there’s a lot of need for advanced safety" and autonomous movement of people and machines. Early tests found IoT precision agriculture requires 23 percent less fertilizer and 15 percent less seed, with production increases of 27 percent, he said. ISPs also target agriculture (see 1908150057).
There were questions about 5G, how it will look in rural markets and if it could help or hurt the digital divide, at a conference Wednesday in Providence, Rhode Island. GCI will "have to look outside the box to figure out what solutions that we’re not currently thinking of are going to work in a lot of these markets,” said Kara Azocar, regulatory counsel-federal affairs. “We have to be innovative,” she told the Competitive Carriers Association conference. “Will 5G exacerbate an urban-rural divide on connectivity and are we going to end up with a second tier internet once you get out of the cities?” asked David Goldman, SpaceX director-satellite policy. “It doesn’t have to be that way.” Service in rural areas “will take work,” he said. “It’s going to take solutions that haven’t necessarily been the ones that you had thought of for previous generations.” ACA member GCI exists because it wants to bring the same services as in urban areas, said Rob Shema, the association's executive vice president-member services and finance. Rural providers haven’t “quite figured out” 5G in rural places, “but they will,” he said. “When folks say that 5G is not going to exist in rural America, that’s completely false,” Shema said: “It may look different and feel different.” At the low end, the industrial IoT will have as much combined value as the entire communications industry today, Tod Sizer, Nokia Bell Labs vice president-smart optical fabric and device research, said Wednesday. In Germany, wireless robots are transforming manufacturing, Sizer said. “They found that the wired robots were just getting in the way.” Industrial IoT will have lots of opportunity in the mining industry, he said, where “there’s a lot of need for advanced safety" and autonomous movement of people and machines. Early tests found IoT precision agriculture requires 23 percent less fertilizer and 15 percent less seed, with production increases of 27 percent, he said. ISPs also target agriculture (see 1908150057).
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Even if the C-Band Alliance releases a plan to provide as much as 300 MHz of spectrum for 5G, there’s no guarantee the FCC won’t opt for an alternative, America's Communications Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman told the Competitive Carriers Association conference Wednesday. ACA, along with CCA and Charter Communications, have their own plan (see 1908150042). CCA officials promoted that here (see 1909170023).
U.S. industry representatives criticized China’s Aug. 23 decision to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. and called for the two sides to quickly reach a trade deal. The latest Chinese tariffs could lock U.S. companies out of China for “many years,” said Doug Barry, spokesman for the U.S.-China Business Council. Barry said U.S. companies are worried that China is finding other suppliers as the trade war continues, and the latest measures may only speed up the process. “More worrisome is the signal to everyone, everywhere, that the trade conflict is getting worse, not better,” Barry said. “So let’s not invest and let’s not buy.”
Israel and South Korea signed a trade deal that will ease customs duties for both sides, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an Aug. 21 press release.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expects Canada's Parliament to continue progress on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in the fall following October elections, he said in recently posted written responses to House Ways and Means Committee members following a June 19 hearing (see 1906190062). "The Trudeau government has begun necessary steps to ratify the USMCA in its Parliament and has stated that it plans to move forward on implementation in tandem with the United States," he said. "The Canadian Parliament has adjourned for the summer and is not expected to return before federal elections are held on October 21, 2019. We anticipate that Canada will take up the legislation once a new government is seated later this fall, and we are confident that the Parliament will vote in favor of the Agreement."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expects Canada's Parliament to continue progress on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in the fall following October elections, he said in recently posted written responses to House Ways and Means Committee members following a June 19 hearing (see 1906190062). "The Trudeau government has begun necessary steps to ratify the USMCA in its Parliament and has stated that it plans to move forward on implementation in tandem with the United States," he said. "The Canadian Parliament has adjourned for the summer and is not expected to return before federal elections are held on October 21, 2019. We anticipate that Canada will take up the legislation once a new government is seated later this fall, and we are confident that the Parliament will vote in favor of the Agreement."