Executive Orders Demand Detailed Trade Report

March 31 was a big day for US policy announcements. Trump signed two executive orders regarding trade abuse: One asking the Department of Commerce and USTR to compile a large-scale country-by-country report identifying every form of trade abuse and every non-reciprocal practice that contributes to the US trade deficit; The other asking for increased enforcement of trade agreements including collecting anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The Trump Administration plans to use this report as a basic reference tool for future trade negotiations, and it is clear that the Trump Administration is gearing up to hold China accountable for their WTO Obligations in addition the promise of equal-market access, especially in the area of Cloud Computing. While the US allows Chinese CSPs to operate with full autonomy in the US, Foreign CSPs have no space in the Chinese market and they must find a domestic partner in order to obtain an IDC or ISP license. Additionally, MIIT released the Notice on Regulating Business Behaviors in the Cloud Service Market (Draft for Comments) in December of 2016, but they have yet to release the full version.