USCIB has issued Recommendations on the WTO e-Commerce negotiations, reflecting member priorities and goals for the negotiations, which had their first round in May. The recommendations are being shared with relevant government officials and stakeholders.

At the December 2017 WTO ministerial in Buenos Aires, 71 countries agreed to begin discussing new global rules to facilitate the expansion of the digital economy. Thanks to intensive work by those countries, last January 76 countries (notably including the U.S., EU, and China) announced the launch of formal negotiations.

In addition to this paper, USCIB is actively engaging in the negotiations in Geneva via various efforts, including the Digital Trade Network and the International Chamber of Commerce.

“The vast majority of the world’s economy is at the table,” wrote Nick Ashton-Hart, the Digital Trade Network’s Geneva representative, in the most recent issue of USCIB’s magazine, International Business. “Since it is estimated that the digital economy underpins approximately one-third of global GDP this is a negotiation that will impact industry everywhere.”