WTO Talks End Without Deal As E-Commerce Duty Ban Expires

High-level WTO talks in Cameroon ended early Monday with no significant agreements and a failure to extend a years-long ban on customs duties for e-commerce, after deep divisions blocked a deal. As a consequence, the World Trade Organization moratorium that since 1998 has exempted cross-border digital transmissions from duties expired Monday.

This does not mean tariffs will automatically be imposed, but it deals a heavy blow to developed countries and the United States in particular.

Trade ministers and other delegates meeting in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde also failed to meet even meager expectations on deals towards much-needed reform of the WTO and on agriculture, among other issues.

“We worked hard,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala insisted as the WTO’s 14th ministerial conference wrapped up around 1:00 am Monday - more than 12 hours after schedule.

“We simply ran out of time.” The disappointment was palpable following the talks, which took place against a backdrop of heightened trade tensions and global economic turmoil linked to the Middle East war. “The failure of WTO members to reach a concrete political agreement in Yaounde is particularly concerning at a time of real strain on the global economy”, International Chamber of Commerce chief John Denton said in a statement.

“This is not the outcome we wanted,” British Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said, decrying “a major setback for global trade”.

The four days of negotiations on Saturday entered a phase of intense “horse-trading” on various issues, observers said. Early Sunday, bleary-eyed negotiators had emerged from an all-night session with a draft text in hand, indicating a minimal deal on reform was in reach, according to diplomatic sources and experts.

That prospect evaporated when Brazil intervened at the last minute, blocking a text on the e-commerce moratorium to protest the lack of progress in separate talks on agriculture, the sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Agriculture is the sector that has seen less progress during the WTO’s 30 years of existence. We cannot allow this to continue,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira had told the gathering on Saturday.

The 166-member WTO has been trying for years to establish a program of work for negotiations on agriculture, but the issue remains highly sensitive in many countries. Going into Yaounde, countries had set the bar low - only hoping to issue a joint declaration aimed at laying the groundwork for future negotiations.

Countries also failed to reach an agreement on the priority issue of WTO reform. Ministers and delegates had been tasked with developing an action plan to revitalize a WTO weakened by geopolitical strains, stalled negotiations and rising protectionism.

The organization, which struggles to reach agreements because of the requirement for consensus, must undergo far-reaching reforms to emerge from a deep crisis that has raised questions over its central role in regulating international trade.