Washington, D.C. — As the World Trade Organization (WTO) prepares for its 13th Ministerial Conference late this February, its 164 members face a key decision — whether to renew a 25-year-old e-commerce tariff “moratorium” that helped create a “duty-free cyberspace” principle for the group in 1998 and has done so ever since. The 2024 world of 5.4 billion internet users, and an electronic commerce value likely approaching that of global GDP, may vastly differ from the 150-million-user experiments-with-email world of 1998, but as noted in a new PPI report, duty-free cyberspace is still at the foundation of the digital economy and still essential to policy.
Today, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) released a report titled “WTO E-Commerce Tariff Moratorium at 25,” which examines whether the WTO members should continue their current “moratorium” on imposing tariffs on (or otherwise taxing) electronic transmissions over the internet. Report authors Malena Dailey, PPI’s Director of Technology Policy, and Ed Gresser, PPI’s Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets, argue that the WTO members should continue this moratorium and outline the extensive policy reasons for why they should do so.
The report demonstrates the value of this moratorium for the growth of the digital economy overall, and for small businesses, individual creators, and entrepreneurs in particular. If the WTO members heed the authors’ advice, they will also help grow and develop the economies of lower-income countries, and simultaneously help the Biden administration achieve its goal of a more “inclusive” trading system.
“This commitment, simply by avoiding unintentional harm, would allow the digital economy to continue the natural growth that has helped hundreds of thousands of small businesses, and countless individuals, enter the global economy and find new ways to realize dreams and earn incomes,” said Malena Dailey.
“Abandoning the moratorium would be a sad mistake — for global progress, for innovation, and for the governments who are losing sight of larger growth and development opportunities in favor of potential tax revenues,” said Ed Gresser. “Duty-free cyberspace remains critical to all these things, and the WTO members should enthusiastically endorse it once again.”
Read and download the report here.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Find an expert at PPI and follow us on Twitter.
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Media Contact: Amelia Fox – afox@ppionline.org
