The World Trade Organization failed to extend a ban on e-commerce tariffs at its 14th ministerial conference, as at least one member opposed US efforts to make the moratorium permanent.
After four days of talks in Cameroon's capital of Yaoundé, Cameroon's Minister of Trade Luc-Magloire Mbarga Atangana, who served as the chair of MC14, said “we ran out of time” on issues including the existing moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions.
The moratorium has been renewed every two years without lapsing since its inception in 1998, when digital commerce was just emerging. Now it's become more than half of all services exports.
Without a deal, the prohibition expires at the end of this month. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said some of the unfinished business could continue to be considered at WTO headquarters in Geneva.
“I am hearing from several of you that it would be regrettable to lose so much effort and work, with the finish line in our sights, and that you still think we can get the job done,” she said.
John Denton, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, said the meeting's lack of a deal on e-commerce tariffs “risks generating yet more policy uncertainty at exactly the wrong moment from a real-economy perspective.”
“There must now be a determined effort to resume talks in Geneva without delay,” Denton said. “Restoring the WTO's e-commerce moratorium must be an immediate priority. Exposing one of the few motors of global growth — digital services — to the threat of tariff barriers makes no sense in an already fragile economic environment.”
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