Industry groups want WTO’s global tariff-cutting deal for tech products to take effect sooner
Negotiators to discuss Information Technology Agreement next week in Geneva; most tariffs to be cut on 201 products within 3 years
Under the terms of the expanded deal, the majority of tariffs will be eliminated on 201 products — representing more than US$1.3 trillion in annual trade — within three years, with reductions starting from July 1 next year.
The so-called “staging” talks slated next week amount to a “show and tell” for ITA negotiators on how far their countries “are willing to go when it comes to assigning the specific timeframes for tariff elimination of the myriad tech products covered by the [expanded] agreement”, John Neuffer, the president and chief executive of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), told the South China Morning Post on Monday.
READ MORE: China’s smartphone firms to win in WTO tariffs cut on more than 200 tech products
The ITA negotiating parties met at WTO headquarters in Geneva in September for an initial round of talks to determine the phase-out timeframes, or staging, for the 201 products covered by the ITA expansion.