President Emmanuel Macron said that the U.S. and France agreed to work together to reach an agreement in 2020 on modernizing the international tax rules. Macron told reporters Monday his nation's 3 percent digital services tax isn't designed to punish large companies. Rather, he said, "it's to fix the problem. And there are also plenty of French companies that will be touched." The U.S. is treating the tax as thinly disguised protectionism, and has opened an investigation (see 1908190043). Macron said that the French tax will be in place until an international pact. He said that if collections under the tax are higher than are eventually agreed to, the excess will be refunded. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement said the "Trump administration should reject any deal that allows France and other countries to move ahead with discriminatory taxes on U.S. technology companies, in exchange for vague promises." President Donald Trump, also at the G-7 conference, didn't provide more specifics, and the French Embassy in Washington had no further comment.

China will impose tariffs on about $75 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation for the coming 10 percent U.S. duties on $300 billion in Chinese goods, said China’s State Council Friday. China said it will impose either 10 percent or 5 percent tariffs on more than 5,000 U.S. products. The tariffs will be imposed in two separate batches on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, China said. Thursday, China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized the U.S. decision to add 46 new Huawei affiliates to the Commerce Department’s entity list, Gao Feng told a news conference. China “resolutely opposes the U.S. side’s practice of using state power to suppress Chinese enterprises for no reason.” The spokesperson said the U.S. move will hurt global supply chains and the country would retaliate with “countermeasures” if President Donald Trump follows through on his 10 percent tariff threat scheduled for December (see 1908150013). “Nobody wins a trade war,” said Myron Brilliant, U.S. Chamber of Commerce head-international affairs, in a statement. It’s time for an agreement on “the thorny issues” of technologies transfer, intellectual property enforcement, market access and “the damaging global impact of subsidies,” he said.

A Huawai executive said the effect of U.S. trade sanctions on its business will likely be less than what it initially feared. Huawei said in June the blacklisting would hit revenue by $30 billion, with no topline growth in 2019 (see 1906190018). “It seems it is going to be a little less than that. But you have to wait till our results in March,” Deputy Chairman Eric Xu said, Reuters reported. Huawei announced Friday what it bills as the world's “most powerful AI processor,” the Ascend 910, and an all-scenario artificial intelligence computing framework, MindSpore. “We have been making steady progress since we announced our AI strategy in October last year,” Xu said Friday. “Everything is moving forward according to plan.”

World leaders should commit to pursuing a multilateral approach on tax policy for digital services and avoid unilateral measures (see 1908190043), a tech industry coalition told member countries attending the G7 Leaders’ Summit, which begins Saturday. The Internet Association, Information Technology Industry Council, ACT|The App Association, BSA|The Software Alliance, Computer & Communications Industry Association and various Japanese trade groups signed. They recommended leaders oppose forced disclosure of source code, algorithms, encryption keys or other sensitive data as a “condition of doing business.” They recommend leaders quickly agree on the World Trade Organization joint statement initiative on e-commerce and permanently implement a WTO moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. The group seeks “open format and machine-readable data sets to foster innovation and competitiveness” in artificial intelligence technologies and to “enhance and generate business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.” France's new digital sales tax, retroactive to Jan. 1, has attracted much skepticism from U.S. tech; the country's embassy hasn't commented.

Customs and Border Protection should provide more information through its automated commercial environment (ACE) system to importers about detention and seizures involving intellectual property rights, said the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee IP Rights Working Group in draft recommendations released before COAC’s Wednesday meeting. The agency should improve intelligence sharing with industry on violations. The working group suggested CBP improve its e-recordation system to help keep track of trademarks and copyrights. Meanwhile, the next test of blockchain technology involving IPR is "anticipated to occur September," followed by an assessment, CBP said in an issue paper on emerging technologies.

Comments are due Sept. 30 to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative suggesting sites and physical markets for the Notorious Markets List for the Special 301 out-of-cycle review, said Monday's Federal Register. Rebuttal comments are due Oct. 15. The USTR is seeking "examples of online and physical markets based outside the United States that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting," said the notice.

IoT security will exceed $51.42 billion in 2024, with a 22.3 percent compound annual growth rate the next five years, reported BIS Research Friday. It cited “the increasing number of data breaches, growing demand for IoT security regulations and guidelines, and the rising security demand for critical infrastructure.” North America is expected to lead the market in 2019, followed by Europe, and is expected to “maintain its dominance” during the period: “This unprecedented growth in North America is primarily attributed to the efforts made by federal bodies to provide IoT security regulations and guidelines. Moreover, the region is known for being one of the fastest technology adopters with a base to many key players.”

Despite a slowing global economy and the “looming” U.S.-China trade war, information and communications technology will maintain “steady” sales growth over the next five years, said IDC Thursday. It predicts worldwide ICT spending on hardware, software services and telecom will rise at a 3.8 percent compound annual growth rate, reaching $4.8 trillion in 2023. "Confidence indicators are fluctuating on a monthly basis, depending on short-term indicators ranging from speculation over tariffs and trade wars to political wild cards,” said the researcher. “End-user surveys reflect the impact of this uncertainty on business decision-making, but our forecasts remain roughly stable overall for 2019.”

Qualcomm is working with the Department for Information Technologies of Moscow, Russian mobile operators, and equipment and software vendors to support testing and deployment of Europe’s first 5G millimeter wave network in Moscow this fall, it said Wednesday. The project is meant to create 5G-enabled digital services and innovation in the city, including virtual and augmented reality applications. Moscow plans to equip business centers, stadiums, main streets, congress halls, railway stations and airports with “high-capacity ultra-fast, low-latency mobile communications” for new 5G-enabled services for a range of devices from smartphones to fixed wireless access points, said Yulia Klebanova, Qualcomm Europe vice president-business development.

Samsung’s share of the European smartphone market jumped to 41 percent in Q2, with 18.3 million shipments, from the year-ago quarter, as its main rival Huawei “suffered the impact of political restrictions” in the U.S., Canalys reported Monday. Huawei’s shipments fell 16 percent to 8.5 million units, giving it 19 percent share, while Apple shipments dropped 17 percent to 6.4 million iPhones for 14 percent share, it said. Xiaomi grew 48 percent to 4.3 million units, for 10 percent share. Samsung has been “quick to capitalize on Huawei’s US Entity List problems, working behind the scenes to position itself as a stable alternative in conversations with important retailers and operators,” said analyst Ben Stanton: Lack of brand loyalty among low-end and mid-range Android smartphone buyers drove Samsung’s “best performance in years.” Europe, said the analyst, remains “one of the most brand-volatile smartphone markets.”