[CTC] WTO group aims for digital trade deal by end of 2022

[Arthur Stamoulis]

WTO group aims for digital trade deal by end of 2022
BY DOUG PALMER | 12/14/2021 11:20 AM EST 
POLITICO PRO
In her remarks, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stressed the need for “capacity building” funds to help developing countries catch up to richer countries in the digital sphere. | Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP
A group of 86 World Trade Organization members — including the United States, China and the European Union — hopes to reach a final agreement establishing rules for the digital economy by the end of 2022, the three countries leading the negotiation said on Tuesday.

“What we're talking about here is a hugely significant initiative for the world trading system,” Australia’s Ambassador to the WTO George Mina said during a virtual press conference from Geneva. “The new set of global trade rules on digital trade — e-commerce — which will supercharge the development of the digital economy.”

What’s been agreed: Mina and his fellow ambassadors from Singapore and Japan said negotiators had reached agreement on issues in eight areas: online consumer protection, electronic signatures, unsolicited commercial electronic messages, access to open government data, electronic contracts, transparency, paperless trading and open internet access.

For instance, the paperless trading provision could benefit the Australian cargo industry $400 million annually by eliminating the need for physical customs forms, while reducing barriers to the sharing of government data will create jobs and help researchers collaborate in the fight against global climate change, Mina said.

What’s left: The final package could cover as many as two dozen areas. Many of the remaining issues are far tougher than what’s been agreed so far, including how to handle concerns about data privacy and regulatory barriers that prevent the free flow of data across borders.

A related issue concerns government requirements that companies store their data locally in order to operate in a particular market. Many members have divergent views over how to handle those issues, including the three biggest players in the talks: the U.S., China and the EU.

Reaching a final deal over the next 12 months will require “a hell of a lot of hard work, a lot of commitment, some common vision from those involved in how to bridge the divides here and there,” Mina said. “And I think we have all that.” 

In her remarks, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stressed the need for “capacity building” funds to help developing countries catch up to richer countries in the digital sphere. 

Who’s not in the agreement: Over half of the 86 members participating in the e-commerce talks are developing countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Turkey and Ukraine. However, both India and South Africa are shunning the “plurilateral” talks, which they argue are not allowed under WTO rules since they don’t have the support of all 164 members.

TPP backstory: Australia, Singapore and Japan are all members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which contains some of the strongest e-commerce provisions of any trade agreement to date.

The United States played a key role in negotiating the TPP before then-President Donald Trump decided to pull out of the pact. However, the Trump administration borrowed the TPP’s e-commerce provisions and incorporated them into the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, along with some modifications.

However, any WTO e-commerce agreement would likely fall short of what has been achieved in those smaller forums. Still, the 86 participating members represent about 90 percent of global gross domestic product, the ambassadors said.



Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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