// ECONOMIC SECURITY: TRADE AND INVESTMENT
From lapse to leadership: what the G7 must do to keep digital trade duty-free
With a longstanding consensus, the G7 is well positioned to anchor a coalition of willing partners and sustain duty-free digital trade
Simon J Evenett, IMD Business School
T he failure of the 14th Ministe- roon, to extend the moratorium on duties on e-commerce has interrupted a prac- tice that has been maintained since 1998. The G7 is well placed to revive the mora- torium, creating an initiative that other WTO members can dock on to. G7 interest in the moratorium is long- standing. In 2021, G7 trade ministers stated that they supported a permanent prohibition of customs duties on elec- tronic transmissions. Later that year, the G7 Digital Trade Principles confirmed that electronic transmissions should be free of customs duties and endorsed a permanent prohibition. In 2022, G7 lead- ers committed to finding a permanent solution to the moratorium. In 2023, the G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communiqué called on all WTO members to make the moratorium permanent. In 2024, both leaders and trade ministers reiterated support for a permanent prohibition, while acknowledging that only a tempo- rary extension had been secured at the previous ministerial conference. The United States has taken a clear rial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Yaoundé, Came- position on this issue and has signalled that permanent duty-free treatment for digital transmissions remains a priority. Nine American trade deals have included
provisions to that effect. Other G7 members have expressed similar views. The moratorium therefore rep- resents a rare area of convergence within the G7 trade policy agenda. PRESERVING MOMENTUM The immediate response to the failure in Cameroon has been the circula- tion of draft text by dozens of WTO members committing to maintain the moratorium among themselves. That
text establishes a template for con- tinued cooperation. It confirms the intention of participating members to refrain from imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions while work continues towards a multilateral outcome. The existence of this draft language means that the G7 does not need to invent a new legal framework. It can adopt and amplify language that has already attracted broad sup- port among the WTO membership.
50 // G7 FRANCE: THE ÉVIAN SUMMIT 2026
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online