World Trade Organization (WTO) members met in Geneva on Friday trying to finalise a deal to cut tariffs on $1 trillion of information technology products from video games to medical equipment. The United States said a deal had been struck, but WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo postponed a press conference at which he and the talks' chairman, European Union Ambassador Angelos Pangratis, had been due to announce the agreement. "Some delegations needed more time to get full clearance from their capitals. They contacted the chairman Angelos Pangratis and he rescheduled the meeting for three hours later," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told Reuters. Once finalised, the agreement to update the WTO's 18-year-old Information Technology Agreement (ITA) will add more than 200 products to the list of goods covered by zero-tariff and duty-free trade. The U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said more than $100 billion of U.S. exports alone would be covered by the updated agreement and industry estimates showed the removal of tariffs could support up to 60,000 additional jobs.
