The Commerce Department is prioritizing regulation that protects intellectual property, human rights and privacy without slowing innovation, Secretary Gina Raimondo said Tuesday. Various legislators and officials at a National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence summit called for international cooperation, investment and for setting artificial intelligence standards.

Unit growth in laptop and tablet imports to the U.S. continued at its torrid pace in May, the 14th full month of pandemic-induced demand for remote work and learning connectivity tools, according to Census data we accessed on Sunday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Vietnam raised its standing as a country of origin for notebook PCs and tablets, plus smartphones, which moved considerably more upmarket in May, likely due to the increasing mix of higher-priced 5G-enabled handsets.

The FTC and DOJ will work to update guidelines on mergers and acquisitions and begin the interagency collaboration directed in President Joe Biden’s executive order (see 2107090010), FTC Chair Lina Khan and Attorney General Merrick Garland responded to the EO Friday. Democratic senators and consumer groups welcomed Biden’s call for more vigorous and modernized antitrust.

The broadly framed executive order that President Joe Biden signed Friday on promoting competitiveness in the U.S. economy will “make it easier and cheaper to repair items you own by limiting manufacturers from barring self-repairs or third-party repairs of their products,” said a White House fact sheet. The EO “includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy,” it said. See our news bulletin here.

FCC commissioners are expected to OK a draft NPRM 4-0 on Tuesday proposing revised rules and “expanded operational flexibility” for unlicensed sensors in the 57-64 GHz band. This 60 GHz NPRM hasn’t been controversial and there has been relatively little outreach to or discussion among commissioner offices, officials said. Some tweaks are under consideration addressing the few filings made since the draft circulated, officials said.

Unit growth in TV imports to the U.S. showed signs of regressing in May, due mostly to tough comparisons with May 2020 -- the second full month of COVID-19 lockdowns, in which consumer demand skyrocketed to historic levels. There was little abatement in the inflationary trends that sent TV pricing soaring due to unprecedented price hikes in LCD panels (see 2106140024).

It will be a challenge for state attorneys general to prove Google has a monopoly over the Android app store market, former FTC and DOJ officials told us Thursday. Consumer groups welcomed Wednesday’s lawsuit from AGs in 36 states and Washington, D.C.

Tuesday's U.S. Court of International Trade opinion granting Section 301 plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products a preliminary injunction freezing the liquidation of unliquidated Chinese imports with Lists 3 or 4A tariff exposure (see 2107060080) gave the public its first tangible peek into the court's possible thinking about the merits of the importers' unprecedented legal challenge to the Chinese duties.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, rising income inequality and “intensifying climate and ecosystem decline,” Kathleen McLaughlin, chief sustainability officer and Walmart Foundation president, said in her blog that the company hopes to “create value for business” by helping to transform societal systems for “more equitable and sustainable outcomes.”

CEDIA Expo owner Emerald is expecting a 20% falloff in exhibitor numbers from 2019 due to the pandemic and people’s “comfort levels for in-person events,” a spokesperson emailed Wednesday. The trade show company is hoping for about 300 exhibitors, she said. The event is Sept. 1-3 in Indianapolis. Last year’s expo, scheduled for Denver, was canceled.