As 200 CEOs opposed the possible U.S. tariffs on Vietnamese goods, newly released November Census Bureau import statistics show Vietnam’s growing role in consumer tech. Vietnam as a sourcing country made substantial share gains the past year in product categories experiencing historic spikes in consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found. It's most notable in smaller TV screens. U.S. importers also sourced about a fifth of smartphones from Vietnam in the year through November. Smartphone imports to the U.S. from all countries reached 21.44 million, up 1.6% from 2019. Chinese smartphone imports to the U.S. were 18.28 million, up 18%. The average such phone, at $367.30, was 27% more expensive. Vietnam shipped 2.6 million smartphones here in November, down 43%. The average at $187.87 was 24% more expensive. Tariffs on Vietnam aren't the answer to curb Hanoi's allegedly unfair devaluation of the dong against the dollar, wrote CEOs of LG, Samsung, Sony, CTA, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association and Semiconductor Industry Association and others to President Donald Trump Thursday, posted Friday in docket USTR-2020-0037. Their letter reflects widespread fear the Trump administration will rush through a Federal Register notice imposing tariffs on Vietnam, even if the duties take effect after Jan. 20. The White House didn't comment Monday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo OK'd the Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies Bureau, to “reorganize” U.S. cyberspace and emerging technology security policy, the State Department said. CSET will address national security challenges from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and “other cyber and emerging technology competitors,” leading U.S. efforts “on a wide range of international cyberspace security and emerging technology policy issues,” the department said Thursday.

Microsoft's GitHub said it got a U.S. sanctions license to provide services to software developers in Iran. GitHub, which provides hosting for software development, convinced the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls that its use “advances human progress” and international communication, and improves free speech, the company said Tuesday. GitHub called the two-year process with OFAC “lengthy and intensive” and said it's “in the process” of rolling back “all restrictions on developers in Iran, and reinstating full access.” The company said it's working to secure similar licenses for developers in Crimea and Syria. OFAC didn’t comment Thursday.

Section 301 investigations of India, Italy and Turkey digital service taxes found each country “discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation” and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Wednesday. “USTR is not taking any specific actions in connection with the findings at this time but will continue to evaluate all available options,” it said. The Indian, Italian and Turkish embassies in Washington didn’t respond to questions Thursday.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security renewed its temporary export control on certain artificial intelligence software, extending it a year from Jan. 6, said that day's Federal Register. BIS originally added the software to temporary controls under export administration regulations because it intended to propose it for multilateral control for the 2020 Wassenaar Arrangement. But Wassenaar’s annual plenary wasn't held last year due to COVID-19. BIS said the extension helps the U.S. “continue its effort at the Wassenaar Arrangement in 2021.”

President Donald Trump's executive order Tuesday bans transactions with eight popular Chinese payment apps, citing national security concerns. In effect in 45 days, the EO bans transactions with Alipay, QQ Wallet, WeChat Pay, Tencent QQ, CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate and WPS Office. Certain Chinese apps “continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” it said. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross supported Trump’s “commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.” A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson called the EO another example of the U.S. “wantonly bullying foreign companies by abusing state power on the untenable ground of national security.” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said “China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy explicitly aims to co-opt or coerce civilian enterprises into assisting the People’s Liberation Army.” The apps’ parent companies didn’t comment Wednesday.

Comments are due Jan. 12 in International Trade Commission docket 337-3518 on public-interest ramifications of the Tariff Act Section 337 import ban that Solas OLED seeks against AMOLED devices and components from BOE, LG, Samsung and Sony for allegedly infringing three display technology patents, said Monday’s Federal Register. Permitting “unlicensed parties” like the proposed respondents to “continue their unfair acts” would devalue the patents and undermine the investments of Solas licensee eMagin to manufacture OLED in the U.S., said Solas’ Dec. 28 complaint (login required). BOE, LG, Samsung and Sony didn’t comment Tuesday.

The FCC opposed China Telecom's motion for a stay before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on sharing redacted material with executive branch agencies for review in case 20-2365. China Telecom filed the material in opposition to a recommendation to revoke its authorizations, citing irreparable harm (see 2012100054). The FCC in a response filed Monday accused China Telecom of misrepresenting its cybersecurity practices and failing to take practical actions to prevent unauthorized access to U.S. records.

The New York Stock Exchange has started proceedings to delist shares of China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom. The three are no longer suitable for listing because of an order by President Donald Trump, which prohibits any transactions in securities "designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company, by any United States person,” said an NYSE statement The delisting will have limited effect, said a China Securities Regulatory Commission spokesperson Sunday: “The size of their [American depositary receipt] listings remains small, less than 2.2% in their respective total equity shares.”

The U.S. Court of International Trade granted DOJ’s second motion requesting leave to file an updated “schedule of cases” related to the first-filed HMTX Industries-Jasco Products Section 301 complaint, said Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu's order (in Pacer) Tuesday in docket 1:20-cv-00177. The motion “concerns overall case management of an unusually large volume of cases, none of which have yet been assigned to an individual Judge,” said DOJ's Tuesday motion. Roughly 3,700 cases have inundated the court, all seeking to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings on Chinese imports and refund the duties. The plaintiffs who responded to DOJ’s Sept. 23 motion (in Pacer) for case management procedures have “generally agreed” the cases other than the HMTX-Jasco action “should be stayed while a test-case procedure is implemented,” said DOJ. The revised schedule of pending cases (in Pacer) attached to the motion spans 194 pages and includes actions filed through Monday. Cases have continued trickling, at least one a day. All assert timeliness under the court’s two-year statute of limitations, dating to first payment of the List 3 tariffs upon the entry of goods in 2018.