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NFTC Applauds Effort by 70 Countries to Move WTO E-Commerce Agenda Forward

[ December 22, 2017   //   ]

National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Rufus Yerxa released the following statement with regard to developments in electronic commerce (e-commerce) following the conclusion of the World Trade Organization’s 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina:

“The outcome of this Ministerial was the most promising result in years for the future of the digital economy and e-commerce work at the WTO. The fact that 70 countries, both developing and developed, are supporting a positive agenda to create a better environment for a digital trade framework is a tremendous boost for the e-commerce economy. It is an indication that countries around the globe are realizing how much new technologies drive entrepreneurship and benefit businesses of all sizes. 

“This announcement signals that development is best enhanced by pursuing gold standard government policies and implementing programs that give local businesses, organizations and workers access to global customers, talent and partnerships.

“We are very pleased that the U.S. government is a part of this effort and thank Ambassador Lighthizer and his team for their support of the WTO’s e-commerce agenda during this Ministerial.

“We also applaud the WTO decision today to extend its long-standing moratorium on e-commerce tariffs,” added Yerxa. “E-commerce protectionism would be very harmful to consumers and will only serve to isolate countries from this fast-growing technological revolution, so this was a very sensible decision.”

 

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