WASHINGTON, United States, March 31, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday lambasted the World Trade Organization after high-level talks ended with a failure to extend a years-long ban on customs duties for e-commerce. As a result of the failure to agree on e-commerce duties, a WTO moratorium that since 1998 has exempted cross-border digital transmissions from duties expired Monday. It does not mean tariffs will automatically be imposed, but it deals a heavy blow to developed countries and the United States in particular. For nearly three decades, every WTO ministerial -- its biennial decision-making body -- has negotiated extending the moratorium exempting electronic transmissions from customs duties. The United States identified Brazil and Turkey as the countries that blocked the extension at the meeting in Cameroon.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha March 31, 2026 03:37 UTC