Tariffs Would ‘Handicap’ US Chances in 5G ‘Contest’ Against China, Telecommunications Industry Association Says

The proposed third tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports targets equipment “critical for the build-out” of 5G mobile phone technology, the Internet of Things and “big data,” according to K.C. Swanson, Telecommunications Industry Association director-global policy, in prehearing testimony posted in docket USTR-2018-0026. Though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hasn’t released a schedule of witnesses to testify at four days of public hearings on the tariffs beginning Aug. 20, Swanson is scheduled to testify Aug. 21, she said. Requests to testify were due Aug. 13 under the deadline USTR Robert Lighthizer extended from July 27 when he announced Aug. 1 he will “consider,” under President Donald Trump’s direction, raising the third tranche of proposed duties to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010070).

The “network-based technologies” in which U.S. companies lead the world “depend on underlying hardware,” Swanson's testimony says. “Taxing that hardware,” as tariffs on network servers, gateways and modems would do, will raise costs for consumers and “act as a burden on innovators,” she says. “Such a move stands to discourage U.S. adoption of advanced technologies in a period of growing global competition over technological leadership.”