The impasse delivered another blow to the WTO, which has been struggling to maintain relevance amid rising protectionism and geopolitical tension.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WTO Director\u2011General Ngozi Okonjo\u2011Iweala confirmed that the moratorium on e\u2011commerce duties has now expired, opening the door for countries to impose customs charges on digital products such as downloads, streaming services and online platforms. While marathon negotiations did make progress on a roadmap for broader WTO reforms, no final agreement was reached.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Speaking to Channel Africa on Monday, Donald MacKay, Chief Executive Officer of XA Global Trade Advisors, explained what was at stake. \u201cEverything you download from the internet, everything you stream such as Netflix, could now potentially be taxed,\u201d he said. Although the expiry does not force governments to introduce duties, it gives them the legal option to do so.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MacKay described the collapse of the moratorium as a poor outcome for global trade. \u201cI think this is a terrible idea. Practically, how would you even collect such a tariff? How do you levy a duty on Netflix or YouTube?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While some developing countries argue that digital duties could increase revenue, MacKay said the biggest loser would likely be the US, which is the world\u2019s largest exporter of digital services. \u201cYou risk collecting very little revenue while provoking a major trade partner at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The deadlock adds to concerns about the future of the WTO as countries increasingly pursue unilateral, bilateral or regional trade measures. MacKay warned that the drift away from multilateral rules would hurt smaller and poorer economies the most. \u201cThe WTO created a predictable trading environment. Without it, you move towards power\u2011based trade relations where bigger countries impose their will.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He said current geopolitical tensions and protectionist policies are undermining global cooperation. \u201cThis path ends with everyone poorer, but especially small, globally exposed economies.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30372,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-30371","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Talks at the 14th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon, ended in deadlock after Brazil blocked a United States (US)\u2011led push to extend the long\u2011standing moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions.\u00a0","published_date":"","news_description":"Talks at the 14th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon, ended in deadlock after Brazil blocked a United States (US)\u2011led push to extend the long\u2011standing moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions.\u00a0","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30420,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30371\/revisions\/30420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=30371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}