CANADA/CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/RUSSIA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration on Friday [1-12-18] targeted markets in Russia, China and other countries—including a Chinese mall in Canada—for allegedly turning a blind eye to the sale of counterfeit goods and other intellectual-property violations.
The ‘notorious markets’ list, published by the U.S. trade representative’s office, names online or physical marketplaces believed to facilitate the sale of pirated goods. The latest version again blames Russian social media network VKontakte.com for allegedly allowing the exchange of Hollywood movies, as well as naming six physical markets in China blamed for allowing counterfeit goods to be sold or not making enough progress to defend intellectual property.
The U.S. document, the Trump administration’s first, once again included the Taobao online platform of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
The Obama administration a year ago had reinstated Taobao on the list, provoking protests from Alibaba, which says it has taken efforts to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods…
The list typically focuses on emerging markets with lax enforcement of copyright and trademarks, but this year’s version included a marketplace outside Toronto, from a developed economy, U.S. neighbor and top trading partner that is currently in tense negotiations with the U.S. and Mexico to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement. A spokeswoman for the Canadian government didn’t immediately comment.
A U.S. official on Friday told reporters that the ‘report covers a wide variety of illustrative markets’ and that Canada is ‘not unique.’ “
-William Mauldin, “Trump Administration’s ‘Notorious’ List Names Markets in Russia, China,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 12, 2018 12:22pm