U.S., Europe in Accord to Cut Tech Tariffs

The United States and the European Union agreed today on proposed terms for a global pact to eliminate tariffs on most technology industry products by 2000, European Union Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan said.

Efforts are underway to bring as many other countries as possible into the deal--which covers about $500 billion of annual trade in products such as computers and telecommunications equipment--before a World Trade Organization ministerial conference closes here Friday.

Countries accounting for at least 90% of world trade in information technology products must sign on to the pact by March 15 for it to become binding, Brittan told a news conference. The European Union and the United States hope many key countries will agree to it later today, he added.

“We have been talking about an ITA [Information Technology Agreement] not just with the United States, but with a large number of other countries, including most particularly many Asian countries,” Brittan said. “We need to continue talks with the Asian countries in order to persuade as many of them as possible to participate in the negotiations and to sign up to the agreement.

Some Asian countries that could be important members of an information technology agreement--especially Malaysia--have said during the five-day WTO meeting that they do not wish to negotiate and sign on to a pact during the current ministerial conference.