Dish Network wants nine tariff lines removed from the proposed third tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties on Chinese imports (see 1808010018) because the products they cover “are critical elements of providing our pay-TV service, including to customers in rural America,” said Jeffrey Blum, senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, in a letter Thursday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0026.

Tech interests virtually struck out in their attempts to persuade U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to spare their products and components from a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Despite heavy industry lobbying to exclude semiconductors and other key parts from the second round of new levies, the list Lighthizer released Tuesday contains 279 tariff lines of goods worth about $16 billion in trade value, a mere 2 percent reduction from 284 lines in the originally proposed list released June 15 (see 1806150030). The new tariffs will take effect Aug. 23, said Lighthizer, who soon will announce a "process" for seeking exclusions from the new duties.

Tech interests virtually struck out in their attempts to persuade U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to spare their products and components from a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Despite heavy industry lobbying to exclude semiconductors and other key parts from the second round of new levies, the list Lighthizer released Tuesday contains 279 tariff lines of goods worth about $16 billion in trade value, a mere 2 percent reduction from 284 lines in the originally proposed list released June 15 (see 1806150030). The new tariffs will take effect Aug. 23, said Lighthizer, who soon will announce a "process" for seeking exclusions from the new duties.

Tech interests virtually struck out in their attempts to persuade U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to spare their products and components from a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Despite heavy industry lobbying to exclude semiconductors and other key parts from the second round of new levies, the list Lighthizer released Tuesday contains 279 tariff lines of goods worth about $16 billion in trade value, a mere 2 percent reduction from 284 lines in the originally proposed list released June 15 (see 1806150030). The new tariffs will take effect Aug. 23, said Lighthizer, who soon will announce a "process" for seeking exclusions from the new duties.

Sinclair’s proposed deal with Tribune is expected to break up Thursday, but Sinclair executives didn’t comment on the transaction during an earnings call Wednesday, though Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said an update would be coming “soon.” Under Tribune’s agreement with Sinclair, passing Wednesday’s deadline allows Tribune to walk away from the deal without suffering a breakup fee, attorneys and analysts told us. Wednesday was also the deadline for parties to file notices of appearance in the administrative law judge proceeding, and those filings could provide a clue to whether Sinclair intends to battle the allegations against it, attorneys said. Tribune announced Wednesday it was set to hold an 8 a.m. conference call Thursday, before the opening of the stock market.

Mayors raised “deep concerns” with a 5G small-cells bill pending in Congress. The Streamlining the Rapid Evolution and Modernization of Leading-edge Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance Small Cell Deployment Act (S-3157) aims to ease barriers by implementing a “reasonable process and timeframe guidelines” for state and local consideration of small-cell applications (see 1807250056). The bill would let the federal government take broad swaths of local government land, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for states and cities, the mayors wrote in a Monday letter to Senate Commerce Committee leaders. “Local governments should have the time and flexibility to ensure that small cell wireless infrastructure is deployed, not just quickly, but safely and correctly in our communities.” The letter was signed by 24 mayors including from Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Louisville, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco. In a Tuesday letter to the FCC in docket 17-79, Austin telecom officer Rondella Hawkins urged the agency to rethink pre-empting local authority. “The Commission appears to be on the cusp of a rulemaking that would cripple local government authority to manage valuable public property, protect public safety, preserve the aesthetic appeal of our communities, and protect the interest of other property owners.” Pace of small-cell application approval is quickening as Austin works with industry and other municipalities on best practices, Hawkins said.

The recently filed Eliminate From Regulators Opportunities to Nationalize The Internet in Every Respect (E-Frontier) Act is unlikely to become law but is again raising questions about why President Donald Trump's administration hasn't definitively said whether it will pursue a proposal for the U.S. to build a national 5G network, lawmakers and communications sector officials told us. S-3255, filed in late July, would formally bar the White House and executive branch agencies from seeking to build a government-owned national 5G network without authorization from Congress (see 1807230059). A leaked National Security Council draft memo proposed 5G nationalization because of concerns China could otherwise build a network.

The recently filed Eliminate From Regulators Opportunities to Nationalize The Internet in Every Respect (E-Frontier) Act is unlikely to become law but is again raising questions about why President Donald Trump's administration hasn't definitively said whether it will pursue a proposal for the U.S. to build a national 5G network, lawmakers and communications sector officials told us. S-3255, filed in late July, would formally bar the White House and executive branch agencies from seeking to build a government-owned national 5G network without authorization from Congress (see 1807230059). A leaked National Security Council draft memo proposed 5G nationalization because of concerns China could otherwise build a network.

The recently filed Eliminate From Regulators Opportunities to Nationalize The Internet in Every Respect (E-Frontier) Act is unlikely to become law but is again raising questions about why President Donald Trump's administration hasn't definitively said whether it will pursue a proposal for the U.S. to build a national 5G network, lawmakers and communications sector officials told us. S-3255, filed in late July, would formally bar the White House and executive branch agencies from seeking to build a government-owned national 5G network without authorization from Congress (see 1807230059). A leaked National Security Council draft memo proposed 5G nationalization because of concerns China could otherwise build a network.

Posted comments on the Trump administration’s proposed third round of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports surpassed 600 Tuesday in docket USTR-2018-0026. Virtually all were filed by the original July 27 deadline for requests to appear at four days of public hearings beginning Aug. 20.