China will raise tariff rates June 1 on 5,140 tariff lines of U.S. goods in retaliation for the Trump administration’s hike Friday of the List 3 tariffs to 25 percent (see 1905090069), announced the Foreign Affairs Ministry Monday. China isn't increasing tariffs on U.S. imports that haven't yet been part of retaliation. It's hiking the previously imposed punitive tariffs from 10 percent to 20 percent or 25 percent, and increasing other tariffs from 5 percent to 10 percent. The largest number of products, 2,493, are going from 10 percent to 25 percent; another 1,078 are going from 10 percent to 20 percent, and for 974 tariff lines, the retaliatory tariff will increase from 5 percent to 10 percent. China is also holding fast at 5 percent on 595 tariff lines.

U.S. importers whose Chinese goods were on the water when the List 3 Section 301 tariffs went up to 25 percent early Friday can assign their goods a special new 9903.88.09 heading on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to enter at the old 10 percent duty rate, said the U.S. Trade Representative Thursday night. This obviates importers needing to pay the 25 percent duty at ports of entry and then seek refunds, under Customs and Border Protection's “in the meantime” guidance earlier Thursday (see report in the May 10 issue). Goods bearing the special HTS heading need to enter the U.S. on or before June 1 to qualify, said USTR. CBP will issue “instructions on entry guidance and implementation,” it said.

Of 86 countries asking Twitter for legal information, the U.S. made the most requests, with 2,092 for data on 3,860 accounts July-December, the social-media platform reported Thursday. Seventy-three percent of the time, the company gave the U.S. government some information, it said. Globally, Twitter received nearly 7,000 requests for data on more than 11,000 accounts, falling 34 percent from January-June 2018, and turned over information 56 percent of the time. It suspended 166,513 accounts for violations related to promotion of terrorism, down 19 percent, and 456,989 related to child sexual exploitation, down 6 percent. The company uploads legal requests into Lumen database, a partnership with Harvard's Berkman Klein Center, it said. "We encourage the public to explore this site to get a sense of the day-to-day queries we receive from governments and other entities."

Tech and other groups are concerned that President Donald Trump’s threat to hike by 150 percent -- to 25 percent -- tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products is set to take effect Friday. An Office of U.S. Trade Representative notice set for publication in Thursday’s Federal Register mandates that the rate hike will take effect 12:01 a.m. EDT Friday, turning Trump’s tweet (see 1905060028) into the force of law. USTR Robert Lighthizer ordered the rate hike at Trump’s direction, “in light of the lack of progress” in negotiations with the Chinese on a trade deal since March, said the notice. “In the most recent negotiations” last week in Beijing, “China has chosen to retreat from specific commitments agreed to in earlier rounds” of talks, it said. Details of a newly created exclusion process will be spelled out in a separate notice, said the document. The Telecommunications Industry Association is “greatly concerned” the administration “announced the imposition of an additional tax on imports to take effect with little advance notice,” said Cinnamon Rogers, senior vice president-government affairs. “The 25 percent duty as described will impact products essential to the functioning of our country's telecommunications networks, ultimately resulting in significant new costs for American consumers.”

Mexico and the Netherlands, will host the 2021 ICANN public meetings, the organization said Monday. ICANN's 70th conference is March 20-25 at the Cancun International Convention Center and No. 71 June 14-17 at the World Forum in The Hague. The Hyatt Regency Seattle previously was announced as site for No. 72 (see 1902010027).

Cognitive Systems received a $7.3 million loan from the Canadian government’s Strategic Innovation Fund to further development of its WiFi Motion technology designed to detect motion in the home. When incorporated into routers and gateways, the technology monitors wireless signals within a Wi-Fi environment to alert users of motion and apply predictive analytics and learning patterns in response. Algorithms use advanced artificial intelligence and localization capabilities to classify signals and provide context around when and where motion occurred. The funding lets the company develop more sophisticated AI engines and drive benefits to users in wellness monitoring and energy management such as powering off lights and heating systems based on occupancy.

There are only so many "seats" in "this rocket ship" of competitive streaming "taking off in our space,” said CBS Chief Digital Officer Jim Lanzone on a Q1 call Thursday. “There aren't that many people who spend $8 billion plus per year on content and do it as well as we do,” he said. “If we play this right, there's definitely a seat for us in that ship.” The CBS All Access audience averages about 20 years younger than that of CBS linear TV and is split roughly 50-50 between men and women, said Lanzone. Two-thirds choose the “limited commercial option,” the rest go for commercial-free, he said. Churn is “in line with industry norms and we've been happy to see many lapsed users coming back to All Access upon the seasonal return of their favorite content,” he said. “We think of these users as pausing their membership rather than canceling it in the traditional sense, and the data suggests that our investment in content across CBS will be our most effective tool for eliminating or reducing the pause cycle for these users, as well as deepening their engagement.” The company is on pace to reach 25 million streaming subscribers in 2022, said President-acting CEO Joe Ianniello. That "doesn't include subs from our international services where we continue to increase our footprint," he said. Having launched streaming in Canada and Australia, “next up” is expanding services into Latin America and Western Europe, he said. “We're taking our time with international,” Ianniello said. “We're being methodical,” with focus on “making sure that the offering to the consumer is robust,” he said. Content will be “the constraining factor, but we're committed to rolling this out in 200 countries around the world,” he said. With nearly 7.5 billion people living outside the U.S., international is “a huge opportunity for further long-term growth,” said Ianniello, whose contract was just extended through Dec. 31 (see 1904290062).

Britain’s National Security Council allowing Huawei to provide some non-core technology for the U.K.'s 5G network is a security risk, blogged American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow Shane Tews Wednesday. She noted the foreign, defense, home and international development secretaries voted no. “Huawei is using its ability to provide cheaper (subsidized) telecommunications equipment to integrate itself into the UK and European countries,” Tews said. Tews said China took advantage of British insecurity after other nations pulled investments because of Brexit. “They hold parties for political leaders and send large donations to charities such as Prince Charles’ ‘Prince’s Trust,’” she said: Prime Minister Theresa May “sent UK Finance Minister Philip Hammond to China this past week to discuss British-China economic and financial cooperation and to search for more contracts for British companies to be part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.” The company didn’t comment.

Sixty-five percent of consumers canvassed in seven countries worry how connected devices collect data, reported the Internet Society and Consumers International Wednesday. Fifty-five percent of people in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, France and the U.K. don’t trust their connected devices to protect their privacy, and 53 percent don’t trust connected devices to handle information responsibly. Nearly 70 percent said they own connected devices, such as smart meters, fitness monitors, connected toys, home assistants or gaming consoles. Testing by multiple consumer organizations found various products are rushed to market “with little consideration for basic security and privacy protections,” said ISOC, while 77 percent of consumers said privacy and security are important considerations in their buying decisions. Twenty-eight percent of consumers that don’t own a connected device haven’t bought one because of such concerns: “consumers see this broadly as much of a barrier as cost,” said the group. It underscores the need for IoT manufacturers to build devices with security and privacy in mind, said ISOC CEO Andrew Sullivan. Eighty-eight percent believe regulators should ensure IoT privacy and security standards, 81 percent chose manufacturers, 80 percent assigned retailers; and 60 percent laid the responsibility for security and privacy with consumers.

Companies are now required to use an international standard for “testing the effectiveness” of device data encryption, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said Tuesday. NIST updated its federal information processing standard, recognizing international standard ISO-19790. The international standard should “streamline” the process for bringing devices to market “because it reduces redundancy for companies trying to sell products internationally,” the agency said. It wanted to minimize the timeline because there’s “a limited time window before a product becomes obsolete,” NIST computer scientist Mike Cooper said.