{"id":633779,"date":"2026-03-17T09:18:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=633779"},"modified":"2026-03-17T10:15:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:15:48","slug":"south-africa-caught-in-us-tech-tax-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/633779-south-africa-caught-in-us-tech-tax-storm.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa caught in US tech tax storm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The US is pushing to make permanent an international ban on tariffs on ecommerce, setting the stage for a debate on America\u2019s global dominance of digital services and data flows at the World Trade Organisation\u2019s ministerial later this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WTO\u2019s \u201cmoratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions\u201d has been renewed every two years since it was first instituted in 1998, back in the infancy of digital commerce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prohibition\u2019s wording was vague by design back then, but it\u2019s understood to mean economic activity that\u2019s now ubiquitous \u2014 from online purchases and social media to data transfers and video calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moratorium has divided nations for nearly three decades as economies, including Brazil, India and South Africa, argued they wanted to preserve domestic policy options rather than rubber-stamp it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Behind that vague justification are concerns, including the hit to customs revenue as online services replace goods purchases, US Big Tech\u2019s growing market share, and data sovereignty and security issues, more recently tied to the boom of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A draft\u00a0WTO statement\u00a0of support for the moratorium circulated in late February included the US, Singapore, Argentina, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and 13 others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump administration wants it to be permanent, making it the most consequential issue facing the Geneva-based organisation at its 14th biennial ministerial conference March 26-29 in Cameroon, known as MC14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow is the time, in our view, for the WTO to act and for the ministers to make the ecommerce moratorium permanent,\u201d said Ambassador Joseph Barloon, President Donald Trump\u2019s point person at the WTO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBusinesses need that stability we think to really further digital trade, and just having that go from MC to MC to MC does not send the right signal. So that\u2019s a key priority. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday, Barloon said the US currently has 22 co-sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European Union\u2019s long-time support for a permanent extension remains in effect, according to European Commission spokesman Olof Gill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But heading into MC14 in Cameroon\u2019s capital of Yaounde, South Africa\u2019s stance remains unclear and India has raised concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stakes are high for Big Tech <\/h2>\n\n\n\nGoogle, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft icons on smartphone. Photographer: Koshiro K\/ Shutterstock.com,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Barloon said the traditional holdouts in the moratorium debates have a chance to send the world a message that the WTO can evolve with the Internet age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Countries have an opportunity to \u201csend a signal to the world that the WTO can actually adapt, the WTO can actually become more relevant for today\u2019s economy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re hopeful that those other members that traditionally have been more hesitant to agreeing to the moratorium, will agree to it making it permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stakes are high and rising for companies ranging from Spotify Technology SA and Alphabet\u2019s Google to Amazon.com, and also for governments that need revenue where they operate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WTO estimates that digitally delivered services exports hit $4.8 trillion in 2024, about double the level reached in 2017. European and North American firms were the source of about 70% of that total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taxation and regulation of digital services have for years sparked disagreement between Washington and Brussels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump administration has complained about unfair treatment of US companies and threatened to seek redress through so-called Section 301 investigations like the kind the White House started launching last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet customs duties on online trade remain an unsettled issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Global business organisations view the WTO moratorium as essential to provide certainty and widen access to digital innovations and efficiencies to emerging economies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another timely upside is keeping the Internet free of the kinds of protectionist moves and retaliations involving tariffs on merchandise trade over the past decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trade tensions<\/h2>\n\n\n\nUS President Donald Trump, right, and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo\/EPA\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
While another moratorium extension is likely, Washington\u2019s push for permanence may be a tough sell in a political environment where trade tensions are high and the US is imposing tariffs on most of its major trading partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen, particularly in the past two or three months in Geneva, a real shift in the mood music around the moratorium,\u201d said Andrew Wilson, deputy secretary general for policy at the International Chamber of Commerce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow the vibe we get is very much that it\u2019s unlikely that the US proposal for a permanent prohibition will pass, but there could be a compromise where instead of the usual two-year extension,\u201d countries could renew it for four years, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without an extension in Yaounde, the moratorium sunsets at the end of March, conceivably clearing the way for customs officials to collect duties on digital services of foreign companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most observers, though, see that as a remote possibility in the near term, given how technically challenging it would be to measure transactions that zip invisibly across borders over fibre optic lines, mobile networks and subsea cables. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doing so would also likely invite a backlash from the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For WTO members, failure to extend the moratorium would be a blow to Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala\u2019s agenda and another setback for the forum\u2019s attempts to write the rules of international trade by consensus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Trump administration has criticised the effectiveness of the WTO, keeping the global internet free of tariffs is one area where it sees value in multilateralism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe time has come to make this moratorium, which benefits all the members, to make it permanent. And we\u2019re hopeful that we\u2019ll be able to achieve that,\u201d Barloon said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrankly, we think the notion of just kicking the can down the road is not helpful.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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