Recently, the WTO negotiations to expand the product scope of the "Information Technology Agreement" (referred to as: expansion negotiations) successfully concluded in Nairobi, Kenya. Enlarged negotiations reached a comprehensive agreement and issued the "Ministerial Statement on Expanding the Trade in Information Technology Products." The "Statement" pointed out that products such as instrumentation, information and communication technology products will be tax-deducted on July 1, 2016.
The agreement added 201 products based on the product range of the 1996 "Information Technology Agreement", including products related to the development of modern science and technology, such as information and communication technology products, semiconductors and their production equipment, audio-visual products, medical instruments and instrumentation. All products are scheduled to be tax-deducted from July 1, 2016. The vast majority of products will be finalized after three to five years, and will be applied to all WTO members on the basis of MFN status.
All of Japan’s products will immediately eliminate tariffs when the agreement is implemented. All products in the United States will be subject to tariff elimination within three years. The overwhelming majority of products in Korea will be subject to tariff elimination within three years, and the reduction period for many products will be shorter than the results of China-Korea FTA negotiations. The expansion negotiations started in May 2012 and reached a comprehensive agreement in December 2015. It lasted for three and a half years. After nearly 20 rounds of consultations, a total of 25 participants and 54 WTO members participated in the expansion of the products to participate in the global trade of products. The amount reached US$1.3 trillion, accounting for about 90% of the global trade volume of related products.
The expansion negotiation is the first major agreement reached by the WTO in the past 18 years on the elimination of tariffs. It once again shows that the WTO’s ability to conduct global trade negotiations will become an important achievement of the tenth WTO ministerial meeting in Nairobi. It will also inject positive energy into reaching consensus on other issues of the meeting. In particular, given the current lack of growth in global trade and the continued spread of trade protectionism, the agreement will boost the confidence of the business community and promote the level of global trade liberalization.
China formally joined the "Information Technology Agreement" in 2003 and has now grown to become the world's largest producer and exporter of information technology products, the second largest importer, and an important participant in the global value chain of information technology products. China accounts for about a quarter of the global trade in expanded products, ranking first in the world.
At the same time, the conclusion of the agreement will help consolidate China's position in the global value chain, promote the extension of China's information technology products to the high end of the global value chain, and help promote information technology to promote industrialization and promote the “Made in China 2025â€. In addition, China's active participation in the expansion negotiations is a concrete manifestation of continuing to promote reform and opening up, which will help further enhance the confidence of foreign investment in China and increase the level of opening to the outside world.
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