U.S. and China Said to Further Talks on Cloud Access in Trade Deal

U.S. and Chinese negotiators are discussing adding a concession on cloud computing to their trade agreement, people familiar with the talks said, according to Bloomberg.

Chinese officials called a meeting this week with representatives of companies including Microsoft, Apple and Amazon to talk about the proposal in detail, said one of the people. The discussions include possibly scrapping the requirement that providers of remote computing services form joint ventures with local companies, another person said. Both asked not to be named discussing the private negotiations.

China introduced sweeping cyber-security laws in 2017 that bolster control over the collection and movement of Chinese users’ data, and potentially grant the government more access to foreign companies’ technology. Foreign cloud companies are required to license their technology to local partners in order to operate in China, and have been forced to store some information within the country.

President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow has said the two sides are nearing a trade deal and officials will talk over the phone after recent high-level meetings in Beijing and Washington. The text of an agreement being worked on covers technology transfers, intellectual property protections, non-tariff measures, services, agriculture, trade balance and enforcement, according to China’s state-run Xinhua.

Drafts of the broader trade agreement now under discussion would give Beijing until 2025 to meet commitments such as allowing American companies to wholly own enterprises in China, people familiar with the talks said earlier. Those would be binding pledges that could trigger U.S. retaliation if unfulfilled, the people said.