The Trump administration has criticized China on a number of trade issues in its recent Foreign Trade Barriers report including cloud computing restrictions, Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Domain Name Rules. Under the section titled, Barriers to Digital Trade, the report states: “China’s treatment of foreign companies seeking to participate in the development of cloud computing services, including computer data and storage services provided over the Internet, raises concerns.” Further excerpts:

— Cloud Computing Restrictions: “China is seeking to similarly restrict the ability of foreign enterprises to offer cloud computing services into China on a cross-border basis. Late in 2016, China’s regulator issued a draft notice on regulating cloud computing, elements of which also appeared in a recently issued measure entitled ‘On Cleaning up and Regulating Internet Access Services Market’ that prohibits Chinese telecommunication operators from offering consumers leased lines or virtual private network connections reach to overseas data centers. The United States has raised this issue with China and continues to evaluate it in the context of China’s WTO GATS obligation to ensure access to and use of leased lines for cross-border data processing services. The United States will work to ensure that legitimate cross-border services can continue to be offered into China.”

— Web Filtering and Blocking: China continues to engage in extensive blocking of legitimate websites, imposing significant costs on both suppliers and users of web-based services and products. According to the latest data, China currently blocks 11 of the top 25 global sites, and U.S. industry research has calculated that up to 3,000 sites in total are blocked, affecting billions of dollars in business, including communications, networking, news and other sites. While becoming more sophisticated over time, the technical means of blocking, dubbed the Great Firewall, still often appears to affect sites that may not be the intended target, but that may share the same Internet Protocol address.”

— Domain Name Rules: “U.S. and other foreign stakeholders continue to express concern over rules proposed in 2016 to regulate Internet Domain Names, a critical input into many web-based services offered in China. While China clarified that initial fears that the rules sought to block access to any website not registered in China were based on a misreading of the intent of the proposed rules, concerns remain with respect to how China intends to implement requirements on registering and using domain names and other Internet resources. The United States will continue to closely monitor this rulemaking.”