Deal on ITA II in the Offing

One of the big questions going into Wednesday’s meeting was whether a group of members negotiating to expand the product coverage of the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA) – a two decade-old pact eliminating tariffs on select information and communication products – would be able to announce a final deal.

Within that group, a subset has been working for the past couple of years on outlining a revised list of products to add to the existing deal. The ITA has not been updated since it entered into force in 1997, and the revision of the product list has been geared toward reflecting new trade realities, such as the advent of new technologies and the decreased use of old ones. An updated coverage list, expansion proponents say, is key toward keeping the trade deal commercially relevant.

In recent weeks, participants of the ITA expansion effort have been racing to finalise the talks after the US and China announced that they had reached a breakthrough in November on the subject, following a year-long stalemate over which products to include in the revised list.

These were reportedly not included in the US-China deal announced last month, which sources said had created particular difficulties for Seoul, who has significant trading interests in these areas. Some other members had also had their own issues with the exclusion of some items, but agreed to accept them in order for a final deal to go through, sources said.

News of a deal could come on Friday, sources said; otherwise, this negotiating round would likely end, and with talks potentially resuming again after the end-of-year break.