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**JUNE 16, 2021**

Kuttner on TAP

Wyden Sticks It to Biden (for Big Tech)

****

The bipartisan China bill that passed the Senate is mostly cause for
celebration. But buried in the bill is a provision inserted by Finance
Committee Chair Ron Wyden, the senator from the state of Techmonoplia.

Wyden's provision uses U.S. trade law to punish other countries that
have the effrontery to regulate Big Tech with regard to worker rights,
consumer privacy, or anti-monopoly measures. These would be defined as
restraints of trade and be subject to trade investigations and
sanctions.

Basically, Wyden took a provision of the 1974 Trade Act known as Special
301, allowing unilateral U.S. action against trade violations. This
provision has been largely moribund, except for a special ploy that Big
Pharma got enacted in 1984 under Reagan, which requires regular
investigations by the U.S. trade rep and possible penalties in cases
where any foreign nations dare to regulate pharmaceuticals.

Now Big Tech wants the same special treatment as Big Pharma, and Wyden
is doing his best to deliver it. (It's a fitting pairing-the two
most predatory of U.S. industries.)

What's bizarre is this rider is attached to a bill directed at abusive
practices on the part of China. But Wyden's measure applies to the
whole world and does little to address Chinese censorship.

The special protection for platform monopolies is also at odds with the
Biden administration's emerging strategy of reining in the abuses of
Big Tech. Yesterday, the administration designated the amazing Lina Khan
as chair of the Federal Trade Commission, knowing full well that her top
priority is to extend antitrust principles to the platform monopolies
such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

The Senate bill still has to pass the House. There is a chance that the
offending provisions could be rejected on the House floor, but Wyden
hopes to make them even more of a sweetheart measure for Big Tech when
the bill goes to conference.

Wyden, from Oregon, is supposed to be some kind of liberal, and on some
issues he is. But Wyden is the best water carrier the platform
monopolies have in Congress. With just 50 senators in the Democratic
caucus, we've all been worried about the havoc wreaked on Biden's
agenda by Joe Manchin. He's not the only one.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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