The Biden administration’s review of criteria for approving liquefied natural gas (LNG) export applications is expected to take “months, not years,” a senior Energy Department official said last week.
Nothing in the FTC’s letter to the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court Wednesday about Microsoft job cuts in its video game operations undermines “the primary reason” for the 9th Circuit to affirm the district court’s denial of the FTC’s injunction to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy, said Microsoft’s rebuttal letter Thursday (docket 23-15992). The FTC has failed to raise “a serious question as to whether Microsoft is likely to foreclose competition in the alleged console, subscription or cloud markets,” it said. The FTC’s letter told the 9th Circuit that Microsoft’s plan to cut 1,900 video game jobs “contradicts” its “representations” in the FTC’s appeal to temporarily pause Microsoft’s Activision buy pending the commission’s evaluation of the acquisition’s antitrust merits. The FTC told the 9th Circuit that Microsoft’s statements that the layoffs were part of an execution plan that would reduce areas of overlap between Microsoft and Activision is “inconsistent” with Microsoft’s suggestion to the 9th Circuit that the two companies “will operate independently post-merger.” But the FTC’s letter “provides no basis for undercutting” the district court’s denial of the injunction, said Microsoft’s rebuttal. “Moreover, the FTC’s factual assertions are incomplete and misleading,” it said. Consistent with broader trends in the gaming industry, Activision “was already planning on eliminating a significant number of jobs while still operating as an independent company,” said Microsoft. The recent announcement of 1,900 job cuts thus can’t be “attributed fully” to the combination, it said. Microsoft “continues fully to stand behind its representations” to the 9th Circuit, it said. “To be clear, while some overlap was identified and some jobs were eliminated,” Microsoft has structured and is operating the post-merger company “in a way that will readily enable it to divest any or all of the Activision businesses as robust market participants in the unlikely event that a divestiture ultimately is ordered,” it said. “This is precisely what Microsoft represented previously.”
More than 150 House Republicans urged President Joe Biden in a Feb. 4 letter to reverse his temporary pause in pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports, saying the moratorium will hurt the U.S. economy and undercut efforts to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian energy. The letter was led by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. Twenty-six Republican senators sent a similar letter to Biden in late January (see 2401260070).
CBP reminded importers of the upcoming "utilization expiration date" that will determine eligibility for a two-year grace period for solar cells and modules from Southeast Asia that the Commerce Department found are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells from China (see 2308180044).
A group of Republican senators has introduced a bill aimed at countering the Biden administration’s recent temporary pause in pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports.
The U.S. said in a Jan. 25 stipulation that it won't oppose an argument from Auxin Solar and Concept Clean Energy that the Court of International Trade has the power to tell the U.S. to reliquidate certain entries in a suit challenging the Commerce Department's pause on antidumping and countervailing duties covering solar cells from four Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. stipulation covers entries that were unliquidated as of the date of an order from CIT that accepts DOJ's stipulation but that subsequently liquidate before the case is resolved (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
U.S. trade policy toward China should concentrate on protecting advanced technology, as opposed to completely decoupling from the Communist country, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Jan. 30.
Various importers and exporters are looking to intervene in a suit from solar cell maker Auxin Solar and solar module designer Concept Clean Energy challenging the Commerce Department's pause of antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from Southeast Asian countries found to be circumventing the AD/CVD orders on these goods from China (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
The Biden administration announced on Jan. 26 that it's temporarily pausing pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports while it reviews criteria for approving those projects.
The U.K. halted talks on a free trade agreement with Canada, according to a post on the social media platform X by the British High Commissioner to Canada Susannah Goshko. A statement posted by Goshko, attributed to a U.K. spokesperson, said the British government reserves "the right to pause negotiations with any country if progress is not being made." The U.K. said it remains open to resuming talks "in the future to build a stronger trading relationship that benefits businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic."