China's lack of worker rights, weak environmental standards "and anticompetitive subsidies are the hallmarks of China’s artificial comparative advantage. It is an advantage that puts others out of business and violates any notion of fair competition," the annual trade policy agenda from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said, and the administration is looking to advance fair competition "through all available avenues," including coordinating with other countries, using existing trade agreements, or new tools, it said.
House members are pushing competing kids' privacy bills in an attempt to keep pace with bipartisan efforts in the Senate (see 2202280060). But talks in the lower chamber have been fragmented, House Commerce Committee members told us Tuesday at a House Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing.
Senate maneuvering on newly named Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya is expected to draw many telecom and tech policy stakeholders’ attention in the coming weeks. President Joe Biden nominated Jackson, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge, Friday to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Jackson has little record on communications law matters but has played a larger role on administrative tech-focused legal matters, legal experts said.
Commenters on the Universal Service Fund generally agreed its funding system is unsustainable and in need of changes but disagreed on the solution, in comments posted Friday in docket 21-476 (see 2112220051) as the FCC prepares its report to Congress on the future of USF.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed nine antidumping duty and countervailing duty challenges until a full resolution is reached in another proceeding over whether the Commerce Department can make a particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below cost test. In a series of three orders, the appellate court paused the cases pending resolution of the request for an en banc rehearing in the other case, Hyundai Steel Co. v. U.S.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s December decision upholding the FCC’s 6 GHz order firms up the agency’s authority as “the expert agency” on spectrum, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks during the Fierce Wireless virtual Wi-Fi summit Monday. Other speakers said use of 6 GHz is growing and will be critical to better Wi-Fi.
The European Union and the U.S. resumed trade of molluscan shellfish, which include mussels, clams, oysters and scallops, the European Commission said Feb. 4. Spain and the Netherlands can now ship molluscan shellfish to the U.S. while Massachusetts and Washington state can export the same to the EU under legislation adopted by the EU reflecting this change, the commission said. Trade in live molluscan shellfish was disallowed in 2011 while the FDA and EC sorted through each side's regulatory differences. The deal "shows that our efforts to forge a positive, forward-looking trade agenda with the United States are paying off," EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. "Since the EU-US summit in June 2021, we have made several breakthroughs: grounding the Airbus-Boeing dispute, launching the Trade and Technology Council and pausing our steel and aluminium trade dispute. All these achievements, plus this latest resumption of trade in bivalve molluscs, help to create sustainable economic growth and jobs for our workers."
Comprehensive state privacy bills marched forward in Indiana and Washington state. The Indiana Senate passed SB-358 in a unanimous 49-0 vote Tuesday, and a Washington House panel narrowly cleared an amended HB-1850 Wednesday. Elsewhere, a Virginia Senate panel cleared edits to its 2021 law and a Maryland committee heard testimony on a biometrics privacy bill.
The deputy U.S. trade representative whose portfolio covers Asia and Africa acknowledged that it may be more challenging to get buy-in from countries for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework without the carrot of lower U.S. tariffs, but she said corporate support will help negotiators get agreement.
Comprehensive state privacy bills marched forward in Indiana and Washington state. The Indiana Senate passed SB-358 in a unanimous 49-0 vote Tuesday, and a Washington House panel narrowly cleared an amended HB-1850 Wednesday. Elsewhere, a Virginia Senate panel cleared edits to its 2021 law and a Maryland committee heard testimony on a biometrics privacy bill.