US Presses WTO to Keep the Global Internet Tariff-Free Forever

The US is pushing to make permanent an international ban on tariffs on ecommerce, setting the stage for a debate on America’s global dominance of digital services and data flows at the World Trade Organization’s ministerial later this month.

The WTO’s “moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions” has been renewed every two years since it was first instituted in 1998, back in the infancy of digital commerce. The prohibition’s wording was vague by design back then but it’s understood to mean economic activity that’s now ubiquitous — from online purchases and social media to data transfers and video calls. ...