It's odd to be talking about blockchain in terms of regulatory policy, said Aaron Arnold, a fellow at Harvard University who studies trade controls to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The technology is designed to remove the intermediary and decentralize authority, said panelists on blockchain and trade security at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank on security. A government blockchain verification system is inherently centralized, said Jonathan Tame, manager in Deloitte's technology practice. Arnold gave an example of an instance in which a Massachusetts supplier sent pressure transducers to its Chinese subsidiary, and then an employee there falsified documents about the package's contents and sent the equipment -- used to enrich uranium -- to Iran. If these transactions were on a distributed ledger, “would this have stopped the transshipment to Iran? No," he said. That’s not “to imply that blockchain or distributed ledger technologies have zero applications" here, he said. For a system with items subject to export controls tagged in an unalterable way that goes to a country where it's not allowed, the seller wouldn't be paid.

Comcast again pushed out the deadline for Sky shareholders to weigh in on its bid for takeover, now to Oct. 6, it said Wednesday. The company last month extended the August deadline to Wednesday (see 1808220054). Comcast said it's received acceptances representing 0.29 percent of ordinary share capital.

IBM seeks “plurilateral agreement among the world’s largest economies” to curb China’s allegedly unfair trade practices, commented the company in docket USTR-2018-0026 in opposition to the proposed third tranche of duties. Such global agreement with China’s “largest trade and investment partners” could help “establish broad new norms,” it said. The EU and Japan “would be logical, willing partners,” it said. Though Nvidia doesn't make graphics processing units in China, some of its “platforms and cards” are assembled there, and “third-party resellers and partners” import them to the U.S., it commented. Those goods are targeted for tariffs of up to 25 percent, “even though the vast majority of their value derives from [U.S.] engineering work," Nvidia said. It’s “working diligently” with those partners “to mitigate possible negative impacts,” it said. “That work will not be completed before the anticipated time” the third tranche takes effect, so it’s asking that those products be exempted. Other tech interests also are concerned about levies over intellectual property disagreements between the countries (see 1809100056).

Netflix may see India as a big potential growth opportunity, but to sizably expand its customer base there it must move to an ad-supported business model or line up a significant wholesale partnership, Barclays' Kannan Venkateshwar wrote investors Friday. India is one of the fastest growing online video markets, with 2017 consumption up four to five times year over year and there's a big push toward fiber-based broadband connectivity across major population centers, the analyst said. But India's media market carries challenges, like cultural heterogeneity, demographics, competitive intensity and the structure of broadband and TV markets, Venkateshwar said, adding that India could represent 6 million to 11 million subscribers to Netflix over five years.

Canada won't sign a free trade deal that would allow U.S. firms to buy Canadian newspapers or TV stations, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Monday. Meanwhile, “There’s good will on all sides,” said Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland regarding negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement. But she noted negotiators will stand up for “national identity,” and there are cultural exemptions for Canadian radio, TV, newspaper and film.

Telecom infrastructure provider GlobeNet and Facebook are partnering to build a new submarine cable system connecting parts of South America, they said Wednesday. They said GlobeNet and Facebook will co-own the 2,500-kilometer cable system -- tying Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a branch going to Porto Alegre, Brazil -- and GlobeNet will operate it. They said the cable network should be ready for service in 2020.

Though the vast majority of the nearly 3,000 comments in docket USTR-2018-0026 opposed a third tranche of tariffs on Chinese goods over intellectual property disputes, Veeco Instruments supports some proposed duties on “indicator panels incorporating LCDs or LEDs,” it commented, posted Sunday. Veeco also wants U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to impose duties on more LED-related goods not currently proposed, said a document redacted to hide “business confidential” information. But it once identified the company, and a revised document posted Tuesday no longer did. The company had about $485 million in 2017 revenue, mainly through the sales of semiconductor process equipment used to produce LEDs and other components, it had reported. Luke Meisner, the Schagrin Associates lawyer who filed the comments, declined comment.

The Trump administration’s proposed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on a third tranche of Chinese goods worth about $200 billion in customs value “would target many key components that make cloud computing possible,” reported the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Tuesday. The administration “in theory” initiated the tariffs to “counteract unfair Chinese trade practices and improve U.S. competitiveness,” said ITIF. “But their practical effect would be to advantage foreign technology competitors, thereby threatening U.S. leadership in both the adoption and provision of cloud computing, and stunting U.S. economic growth,” it said. Though Chinese “innovation mercantilism” is a “laudable and necessary mission,” the administration needs to “seek alternative policy measures that do not raise the cost of key productivity -- and innovation-enhancing capital goods and services such as information technology and cloud computing,” it said. ITIF fears that tariffs would raise prices for businesses and consumers and force cloud-service providers to cut costs through job reductions or curtail spending on new data centers or the R&D “needed to stay ahead of international competitors,” it said. It also worries that cloud providers “may be forced to invest elsewhere to remain competitive,” it said. Tariffs also “threaten to disrupt finely crafted global supply chains for the manufacture of information-technology products,” it said. Those supply chains can’t “easily be reinvented in the short term without significant detriment to, and dislocation of, U.S. industry,” it said.

EBay views as good news the de minimis value threshold in Mexico as part of the U.S.-Mexico trade deal (see 1808280003), it announced Wednesday. "This allows low-value shipments to cross borders with minimum effort, allowing for stronger global trade" and "the eBay Government Relations team has long advocated that countries raise their de minimis thresholds to promote trade," it said. The trade deal would double Mexico's de minimis to $100, though it's still well below the U.S. de minimis of $800.

Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said tariffs could lead to price hikes for consumers, on a Tuesday earnings call after reporting results for its Q2 ended Aug. 4 that accompanied a stock decline. “When there’s a price increase, there’s an impact,” he said, though the Trump administration has “very important international trade goals.” Effects from tariffs will be “tightly linked” to gross profit margins, Joly said. A 25 percent tariff on an item with a gross profit of 20 percent will result in a 20 percent price increase, said the executive, noting vendors’ ability to absorb tariffs and over time diversify their supply base. The retailer's Q2 online sales growth slowed to 10 percent after 31 percent sales growth in the year-ago quarter over the prior-year quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Corie Barry, underscoring the retailer’s “mature” position in e-commerce. It's gaining market share online, said Barry, now at 15 percent of domestic revenue. Barry called the consumer electronics segment “mature,” with customer buying patterns that moved online “earlier than most.” But the company beat some expectations in Q2 on strength in wearables, mobile phones and gaming, she said. The stock closed the day down 5 percent at $77.57.