General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade

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General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Washington in duty-free move
The US is seeking to extend the duty-free status of international online
transactions to protect the development of global electronic commerce, the
Clinton administration said yesterday. Susan Esserman, deputy US trade
representative, said the US wanted the World Trade Organization to agree at
the earliest possible date to extend the current moratorium on customs duties
for electronic trade.
In testimony to the Senate foreign relations sub-committee on Europe, Ms
Esserman said duty-free cyberspace was particularly valuable to US software
companies that were seeking to distribute their products electronically.
The US is also looking for WTO members to affirm that electronic commerce is
subject to existing rules and agreements, and should not face unnecessary
regulatory barriers to trade. However Ms Esserman said more time and work
are necessary before electronic goods could be subject to final
classification under WTO rules.
Electronic commerce in the US is forecast to grow to $1,300bn by 2003, while
in India it is expected to grow by $15bn within two years. Richard Wolffe,
Washington
Protectionism, it seems, is always with us and it is useful to examine the
intermittent attempts made to establish rules for its containment. This book
is one such examination, on the conception, birth, and early years of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); it is restricted to the years
1940--53. It is the work of an historian but one at the political, rather than
economic, end of the spectrum. The heavy emphasis throughout is on the
American role within an essentially Anglo-American tussle. The argument is
that although trade was a relatively small proportion of US output it was used
for political and diplomatic purposes. The general thrust is that the US was
keen on a new liberal order and determined to break the British empire's
preferential trading arrangements. However, when we read that the central
argument is that, 'by liberalizing trade while protecting domestic economies
-- a bargain consistent with US trade law, practice, and history ...', we
might reasonably expect to be in for a roc ky ride.
Politics is important and possibly even central in the process of trade
protection, but will always be found to depend on economic forces. The
politics here might well be overdone. The whole story is presented as a
struggle between the US and Britain/British empire. Although ...

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