While the White House increasingly wields tariffs as an economic policy tool, parts of the tech, media and telecom universe see a growing risk of getting enmeshed in trade fights. Some communications technology could be particularly exposed, Telecommunications Industry Association Director-Global Policy Patrick Lozada told us. Broadcasters, meanwhile, are bracing for tariffs that could potentially result in lower advertising spends. SpaceX's temporary loss of a $100 million contract over a U.S./Canada tariff fight also could point to satellite communications getting caught in the thicket of U.S. trade disputes (see 2502060004).
Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., asked the FCC Thursday to investigate foreign entities of concern (FEOC) “that broadcast on U.S. airwaves to determine if those entities pose a significant national security risk to the American public, and use existing FCC authorities to deter future partnerships between FEOCs and television networks.” Banks and Scott cited a trio of ads for Chinese retail application Temu during the 2024 Super Bowl broadcast where the company “offered $15 million worth of giveaways on their questionable products. Temu is known to flood the United States with cheap goods produced by forced labor in [China] while exploiting the de-minimis loophole to avoid enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act.” U.S. broadcasters “should not platform [Chinese Communist Party] -linked companies who actively violate U.S. laws and do not comply with the same standards as U.S. manufacturers,” the senators said in a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. They noted that the U.S. Trade Representative’s office has repeatedly placed Temu's China-based parent company, Pinduoduo, on its notorious markets list for intellectual property theft, “copyright piracy, and selling counterfeit goods.”
SpaceX's temporary loss of a $100 million contract with Ontario over a U.S./Canada tariff fight could be a harbinger of satellite communications services increasingly enmeshed in U.S. trade disputes. Some see non-U.S. satellite operators potentially benefiting from the Starlink contract episode.
Successes over the past year in combating piracy included shuttering Fmovies and associated video piracy sites (see 2408290025), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Wednesday in the latest annual Notorious Markets list. Fmovies was on the list since 2017, it said. USTR said the wide use of cyberlockers and "bulletproof" internet service providers that are particularly lenient toward piracy remain areas of concern. The reliance on bulletproof ISPs makes it increasingly difficult for rights holders to remove infringing content, especially when ISPs disguise their ownership and locations and won't respond to rights holders’ takedown requests, USTR said. The 38 online piracy markets highlighted in the 2024 report include video piracy sites 1337X, GenIPTV, MagisTV and Vegamovies.
Canada’s digital services tax (DST) appears to violate the country’s trade commitments with the U.S., the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Friday, requesting a review under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The DST, reflected in a budget passed in June, seems discriminatory toward U.S. companies and is inconsistent with chapters 14 and 15 of the USMCA, the USTR said. The DST imposes a 3% tax on “the sum of revenues deemed connected to Canada from online marketplaces, online targeted advertising, social media platforms, and user data,” according to the filing. It applies to companies with global revenue of €750 million or more and Canadian digital services revenue of more than CAD20 million. The measure violates Canada’s commitments to the USMCA, which requires equal treatment for U.S. and Canadian services, service suppliers and investors, said USTR. The Computer & Communications Industry Association welcomed the filing, citing Canadian Parliamentary Budget Office figures showing American companies will be responsible for the “vast bulk” of the $3 billion estimated for the first payment in June. “We expect that under USMCA, the facts and the law will demonstrate that Canada should remove this measure expeditiously. And, absent compliance, we look to USTR to follow through on its pledge to use all tools available to remedy this trade-distortive measure,” said CCIA Vice President-Digital Trade Jonathan McHale. CCIA, CTA and TechNet joined more than 10 associations in writing a letter to USTR in June opposing the DST.
Information Technology Industry Council appoints Sean Murphy, consultant to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as executive vice president-policy, effective in June … E.W. Scripps elevates Robin Davis to senior vice president-chief distribution officer, effective immediately; she was interim head-distribution since February ... Blackbaud hires Tom Barth, ex-Akamai Technologies, as head-investor relations ... Electrosoft Services, cybersecurity and enterprise modernization firm, hires Jason Ballah, ex-TekSynap, as vice president-DOD programs ... Newly elected to Xerox board: John Bruno, Xerox president-chief operating officer; Tami Erwin, former Verizon Business Group executive vice president-group CEO; Priscilla Hung, former Guidewire Software president-chief operating officer; Edward McLaughlin, Mastercard president-chief technology officer; John Roese, Dell Technologies global chief technology officer; and Amy Schwetz, Flowserve senior vice president-chief financial officer ... TrustPoint, developer of next-generation global navigation satellite system products and services, adds Ascension Partners founder Charles Beames, also former Vulcan Aerospace president, as executive chairman ... BAE Systems adds former National Reconnaissance Office Director Betty Sapp to its board ... Microdisplay company Kopin announces Scott Anchin's plans to vacate his board seat, effective May 31, because his new employment agreement with another company requires him to relinquish all outside board roles.
USDA's Rural Utilities Service added countries to its list of those eligible for purchases by telecom and electric program award recipients, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. The announcement comes after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative published a list in September determining which countries' products receive "the same treatment as manufactured and unmanufactured products" made in the U.S.
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative’s decision to abandon digital trade demands at the World Trade Organization will lead to more restrictive international data flows, tech and open-internet advocates said Monday. USTR Katherine Tai in October withdrew U.S. support for Trump-era proposals at the WTO, which addressed data localization restrictions and other impediments to data flow in places like China. Tai said the USTR withdrew to allow Congress to better regulate domestically. Her decision has left a vacuum where the U.S. used to influence data governance frameworks around the world, said Natalie Dunleavy Campbell, a senior director at Internet Society. This “highly regulated approach to the internet” resembles policies in places like China and Russia, and it will influence other countries to shift in the same direction, she said during a Congressional Internet Caucus Academy panel. Hopefully, the USTR will shift toward a more balanced set of rules that helps foster the benefits of the internet but provides domestic regulatory policy space to “deal with real harms,” said Lori Wallach, director of Rethink Trade. The administration hasn’t “articulated the reason for the pullback very well,” and the U.S.’s position on international data flows doesn’t appear to be heading in a “positive direction,” said Jonathan McHale, vice president-digital trade at Computer & Communications Industry Association. USTR didn’t comment.