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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar25/10) Geneva, 19 Mar (D. Ravi Kanth) — The outgoing chair of the World Trade Organization’s Council for Trade in Services (CTS), Ambassador Syahril Syazli Ghazali of Malaysia, last week urged WTO members to intensify engagement in addressing outstanding issues such as the mandated services waiver for least-developed countries (LDCs), as well as exploring flexibilities to achieve potential deliverables for the upcoming WTO’s 14th ministerial conference (MC14) in Yaounde, Cameroon, in end-March 2026, said people familiar with the development. At a meeting of the CTS, several members praised Ambassador Ghazali for his leadership and contributions to the Council, and acknowledged the significant progress made under his tenure for the past one year. Citing WTO statistics, Ambassador Ghazali informed members of the robust growth in trade in services, with global services trade posting a strong 10 per cent year-on-year increase in the third quarter of 2024, said people familiar with the development. In several metrics, the rise in services exports and growth in imports across regions reflected the high demand for diverse services, he said. Following the mandate of the WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) that concluded in Abu Dhabi on 2 March 2024, the CTS discussed several issues while making significant progress on two issues, especially in reinvigorating the work of the Council, where members finally agreed in principle on the prioritised topics for evidence-based thematic sessions. The members also endorsed the framework of a questionnaire developed by the LDCs to facilitate the implementation of the “LDC services waiver”, which aims to provide preferential treatment to LDC services and services suppliers, as mandated by ministers at MC10 in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2015. RECIPROCAL TARIFFS Several industrialized countries and some developing countries appear to be increasingly worried about the reciprocal tariffs to be levied by the Trump administration from 2 April, particularly in the area of services, such as the value-added tax, also referred to as the goods and services tax (GST), said people familiar with the development. The industrialized countries, who have repeatedly projected the domestic value-added tax as a counter to the continuation of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions since 1998, are now concerned that the Trump administration could impose duties on par with domestic value-added taxes, said people familiar with the development. Further, the US Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Jamieson Greer, in his report issued last week categorically demanded the continuation of the moratorium on a permanent basis even though trade ministers had agreed at MC13 that the moratorium stands terminated on 31 March 2026 or before the conclusion of MC14. The MC13 decision reads: “We agree to maintain the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until the 14th Session of the Ministerial Conference or 31 March 2026, whichever is earlier. The moratorium and the Work Programme will expire on that date.” Against this backdrop, the new chair of the CTS, Ambassador Ram Prasad Subedi of Nepal, has his task cut out, particularly on the “tremors” that are likely to arise in the wake of the imposition by the US of reciprocal tariffs on trade in services, said people familiar with the development. +
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