China Faces Pushback At ITA Round For Seeking Long Phaseout Periods

World Trade Organization members negotiating to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) this week in Geneva pushed back on China's demands that it be allowed to phase out tariffs over the longest possible timeframe for roughly 40 percent of the IT products being considered in the expansion talks. Specifically, China is seeking to maintain tariffs on almost 90 of the 201 products under consideration until either five or seven years after the agreement comes into force, sources familiar with the...