About half of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) members have reached a preliminary agreement on e-commerce that would permanently ban tariffs on cross-border digital transactions, which are growing at twice the rate of physical merchandise.
The United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and major European Union economies were among the 91 countries participating in the deal, although Washington has signaled hesitation about full support.
South Africa and India, two countries that have in the past raised concerns about rules designed to benefit rich countries at the expense of poorer ones, were absent from the list.
Participants may face a challenge in turning their agreement into a formal WTO deal because that requires consensus among all WTO countries. India and South Africa have been particularly critical of agreements that do not include all members.
About 80 countries reached an agreement on Friday on rules governing global digital trade that include recognition of electronic signatures and protection against online fraud, but failed to persuade the United States to join.
After five years of negotiations, the coordinating countries - Australia, Japan and Singapore - distributed what they said was a "balanced text", which the European Union hailed as a "historic development" and Britain described as "pioneering".
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