CHINA/TARIFFS/TECHNOLOGY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Four major tech companies have sent a last minute letter to the Office of the US Trade Representative asking to be exempted from a possible new round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. The companies, Dell, (DVMT) Cisco (CSCO), Juniper Networks (JNPR)and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), are worried the tariffs will increase the costs of their networking equipment, damaging the companies’ bottom lines and leading to possible US job losses. They say the increase in prices would negatively impact customers, small businesses, internet service providers, and data centers. The tariffs would hinder innovations important to the US government, such as cloud computing and the rollout of 5G networks, according to the letter…The United States could impose tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods as soon as Friday [9-7-18] when a public comment period on the new round of taxes concludes. It’s unclear whether the tariffs will be set at 10% or 25%. The tariffs, if imposed, would cover roughly half of all Chinese goods entering the United States. The Trump administration put 25% tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports in July and another $16 billion last month, saying Beijing must correct unfair trade practices. China, the United States’ largest trading partner, has accused Washington of trade bullying. It has responded with equal measure on US goods.”
–Heather Kelly, “Tech companies make last-minute effort to avoid new China tariffs,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 6, 2018 2:33 pm