EU and World Trade Organisation partners finalise high tech trade deal

Yesterday, the EU and another 23 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) completed a trade deal that eliminates custom duties on more than 200 high-tech products. On this occasion, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said: ”I warmly welcome the conclusion of this agreement. This is great news for consumers, who should see the prices of their favourite electronic products fall. It should also give a boost to Europe’s high-tech manufacturing sector. We expect the deal to give our entrepreneurs easier access to state-of-the-art technology and help them reach out to the overseas markets. The conclusion of the revised Information Technology Agreement (ITA) shows that we can achieve global solutions that benefit all sides. This should add momentum to the multilateral World Trade Organisation process happening now in Nairobi.” The deal, initiated by the EU, extends the 1996 ITA to cover €1.3 trillion in global trade. This makes it the biggest tariff-cutting deal in the World Trade Organisation in almost two decades. A full press release is available here.