A total of 66 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have agreed to adopt a long-awaited e-commerce agreement, but efforts to reach consensus among all states fell short in a blow to digitalisation efforts.
The WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference, held in Yaoundé, did not end in full agreement on digital trade, after nations including the US and Brazil became stuck in a deadlock over the deal’s terms.
Disagreement hinged on a moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions that cross borders, which has been in place for more than 25 years and lapsed after countries failed to reach a consensus.
The digitisation rules are explicitly designed to apply to national customs authorities, which are seen as hurdles to fully digitised trade because many require importers and exporters to submit hard-copy customs documents and do not have digital systems in place.
While the US wanted a permanent moratorium, other nations, such as Brazil and India, sought a shorter-term extension as they seek to benefit from tariffs.
The 66 members, which include Australia, China, the EU and the UK and represent “approximately 70% of global trade”, said they had “adopted a pathway” to bring the WTO Agreement on Electronic Commerce into force “through interim arrangements”.
They will continue to “work towards its incorporation into the WTO legal framework of rules”, the statement said.
WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: “Digital trade is an exciting frontier for driving economic growth and job creation. By moving forward with the e-commerce agreement, participating economies are helping to establish a shared regulatory framework that can lower costs and unlock new opportunities.
“They are also demonstrating that the multilateral trading system can respond, and is responding, to new challenges and changing economic circumstances.”
Chris Southworth, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) UK, described the conference outcome as a “disaster for multilateralism”.
“Despite the challenges, we had a workable deal on the table on Saturday but the whole thing was torpedoed by the US and India. It was really frustrating for the rest of the world,” he told GTR.
“What is clear is that multilateral and now plurilateral deals are off the table until there is WTO reform, unless countries are prepared to do what the 66 have done.”
The conference also failed to produce any agreement on wider WTO reform.
John Ferguson, global lead of the Future of Trade initiative at Economist Enterprise, said ahead of the conference that “it has become abundantly clear that consensus reform is sorely needed”.
“One country shouldn’t be able to veto the ambitions of 164 others. That’s not multilateralism – it’s paralysis by design. Responsible consensus means obstruction has a cost and good faith is an obligation, not an option,” Ferguson said.
According to a 2024 study by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the ICC, a collapse of the rules-based trading system could result in a 33% drop in developing countries’ non-fuel goods trade and export losses of 43% in low-income economies and 32% in middle-income countries.
In November last year, the ICC called on WTO members to launch formal reform negotiations at the conference and “salvage the rules-based system”, as well as maintain the e-commerce moratorium.
