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22 March 2018Patents

Trump expected to deal China trade blow following IP probe

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce trade sanctions on China later today, in an effort to crack down on China’s IP violations.

In August last year, Trump ordered US trade representative Robert Lighthizer to initiate an investigation into China under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1971.

Under section 301, the US can impose trade sanctions on countries that either violate trade agreements or engage in unfair trade practices.

The investigation aimed to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Chinese government related to IP have a negative impact on US commerce.

According to Reuters, White House principle deputy press secretary Raj Shah stated that Trump will announce the actions he has decided to take based on the investigation into “China’s state-led, market-distorting efforts to force, pressure and steal US technologies and IP”.

Lighthizer told the US House Ways and Means Committee yesterday that the US has a “very serious problem of losing our IP”, with China being the main culprit, and that IP is the “biggest single advantage of the American economy”.

“The president indicated he would use all available trade laws to defend US workers, farmers, and ranchers against unfair trade, and he is in fact doing that,” added Lighthizer.

Earlier this week, WIPR reported that US businesses in the technology and retail sectors urged Trump to reconsider tariffs aimed at punishing China.

While it was acknowledged that there was a need to address China’s “discriminatory practices” relating to market access, technology transfer and IP, the organisations said that the US should not punish China by taking action that would “penalise the American consumer and jeopardise recent gains in American competitiveness”.

Yesterday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the US did not fully comply with a 2014 ruling brought by China against the country’s anti-subsidy tariffs on various Chinese products.

China went to the WTO in 2012 to challenge the tariffs on Chinese exports, including solar panels.

In response, China’s commerce ministry stated that the ruling demonstrates that the US has “repeatedly abused trade remedy measures, which has serious damaged the fair and just nature of the international trade environment and weakened the stability of the multilateral trading system”, reported Reuters.

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More on this story

Patents
20 March 2018   American businesses in the technology and retail sectors have joined forces to warn US President Donald Trump against tariffs aimed at punishing China for its IP practices.
Copyright
14 February 2018   China is trying to gain access to US proprietary information through telecoms companies, academia and joint business ventures, a US senator has claimed.
Patents
23 March 2018   The US has announced tariffs of up to $60 billion on China, in response to China’s alleged IP violations.