ITA Talks to Resume as China Dilutes Objections

Negotiations to expand the coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), a plurilateral WTO pact that eliminates tariffs on trade in information and communication technology products, are also expected to resume in the coming weeks, following discussions involving some of the participants on the APEC summit sidelines.

The ITA dates back to the mid-1990s, and a subset of the group’s participants have spent over a year working to develop a list of new products to add to the agreement’s coverage in order to reflect the changes in world trade since 1996. A revised ITA had been touted as another possible deliverable for the WTO’s ministerial conference in December.

However, the talks were suspended in July, due to differences between China and other participants over which products to include. Specifically, Beijing had indicated a series of product lines that it deemed too sensitive for inclusion. Other members - such as the US - in turn argued that China had asked to exclude too many items.

China has now agreed to reduce the list of items it wishes to exclude from consideration, officials said, paving the way for the ITA talks to resume within the coming weeks.

“I’m pleased to announce that there is a hopeful sign this week of our ability to work creatively together to solve problems and make progress in the WTO,” US Trade Representative Mike Froman told reporters on Saturday. “We were happy to work with China and others to get the information technology agreement talks back on track.”