Japan chose a “dangerous and destructive mode of retaliation” in its trade dispute with South Korea, “one that is likely to greatly disrupt global electronic supply chains and bolster China’s push for dominance of 5G wireless," blogged American Enterprise Institute trade scholar Claude Barfield. Japan controls about 90 percent of the markets for two of the three chemicals, and 70 percent of the third, necessary to make semiconductors and flexible display panels, said the former consultant to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It’s threatening to remove South Korea from the white list of countries with privileged security status, he said Tuesday. “This would force Korean companies to go through a time-consuming procurement process in the future," causing disruption to the global supply chain that would “ripple outward,” he said. South Korea asked the secretariat of the Wassenaar Arrangement to mediate the dispute with Japan, since both countries signed the 1996 agreement on curbing export of sensitive dual-use goods to rogue states. Japan claims South Korean manufacturers are allowing the chemicals to go to North Korea. "The secretariat responded that it has no mechanism to intervene in bilateral issues that may arise between member states," Korean press reported.

A China-U.S. trade deal would lead to lifting the ban on Huawei, speakers agreed during a Brookings Institution panel. All suggested a U.S.-China deal will eventually get done. The Commerce Department added Huawei to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s entity list in May, and recently showed willingness to loosen restrictions to mitigate impacts on U.S. exporters (see 1907100013). Blacklisting was more political than practical, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson and American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Derek Scissors. The Trump administration and Congress cited fears Huawei products can be used as state-monitored surveillance equipment. That was addressed with import restrictions, Atkinson said Thursday. “The Huawei ban had nothing to do -- nor should it have anything to do -- with national security,” he said. “Could we damage Huawei -- their national champion -- as leverage in a trade war? That's what that was about.” Atkinson said U.S. export controls against Huawei are “a total trade tactic” and China is never “going to accept a deal if the Huawei ban is still on.” Adding the company to the entity list was a trade tactic that will be easily undone, said Scissors. “We are much less linked to Huawei than some of the Europeans are and some of our other allies are,” he said. “The president will just say it doesn't matter to us.”

The European Commission OK'd Liberty Global's sale of its German, Hungarian, Romanian and Czech Republic operations to Vodafone, Liberty said Thursday. It said the deal announced 14 months ago (see 1805090005) now has met all regulatory conditions and is expected to close by month's end.

The U.S. and the other G7 nations signed a common understanding on digital economy competition (see here), DOJ said Thursday. It includes an agreement that competitive markets are vital to well-functioning economies, that digital transformation requires competition authorities to have up-to-date tools and resources for enforcement, that governments should assess whether policies or regulations unnecessarily restrict digital market competition, and that there needs to be more international cooperation and convergence in competition law application. There has been concern about data accumulation by platforms being a barrier to competitive entry, but such issues -- while challenging -- "are not beyond the reach of competition law," it said, and the G7 nations will continue to collaborate on such issues. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said the understanding "recognizes the importance for competition agencies to examine enforcement and policy issues raised by evolving business practices and emerging technologies in light of the goals of protecting consumers and promoting competition."

Tech cheered the appointment of former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president. In her political guidelines, von der Leyen pledged to present legislation on artificial intelligence within 100 days and a "digital services act" to upgrade EU rules on digital platforms, services and products, the Computer & Communications Industry Association noted. CCIA Vice President Christian Borggreen urged the EC "to develop smart and evidence-based policies to build a thriving European Digital Single Market." Guido Lobrano, Information Technology Industry Council vice president-policy for Europe, welcomed von der Leyen's "early commitment to digitalization in Europe" and asked her to advance "future-proof tech policies."

Chinese companies lead the world on 5G R&D and are poised to continue that trend, China Briefing reported. China has other advantages, including a dense fiber network, the report said. China’s domestic market is huge, the report noted: “China has the world’s largest end-user base -- over 800 million internet users” and estimates of 576 million 5G users by 2025 “or more than 40 percent of the global total. Their demand may lead to a flood of 5G applications.”

AT&T wants a three-year extension of its waiver of the benchmark rate for telecom traffic between the U.S. and Cuba. In an FCC docket 10-95 posting Tuesday, it said the extension would renew just the commercial relationship between it and Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA). It said it hasn't negotiated a reduction in termination rates with ETECSA, but progress is being made.

Israel officials said they'll hold a 5G auction, with the goal of announcing winners by December and launching next year. Israel plans to auction frequencies ranging from 700-2100 MHz, already used for 4G services, to 2600-3800 MHz, which is set aside for 5G, The Times of Israel reported Monday.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative set deadlines and a hearing for its Trade Act Section 301 investigation into France's digital services tax (see 1907110033). Request to appear by noon Aug. 12 for the Aug. 19 hearing that starts at 9:30 a.m. that day, USTR said. The regulations.gov docket is USTR-2019-0009. Aug. 26 is when post-hearing submissions are due.

ICANN wants input on policy recommendations for protecting domain name acronyms used by international governmental (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (INGOs). IGOs want a system that would allow them to protect and challenge misuse of their identifiers (see 1810240001). Domain names protected by international treaties rather than trademark law, such as those for the World Health Organization or UN, can't use ICANN mechanisms such as the uniform dispute resolution policy. The Generic Names Supporting Organization Council just approved recommendations for addressing the problem, ICANN noted Friday. They include: (1) No substantive changes to existing rights protection mechanisms for INGOs. (2) No specific new dispute resolution procedures for IGOs. (3) Clarified policy guidance for IGOs filing complaints under the existing process. Comments are due Aug. 20.