ARLINGTON, VA – April 1, 2026 – The following statement is attributed to Gary Shapiro, Executive Chair and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®:

“The WTO’s moratorium on e-commerce duties is a cornerstone of global trade, and CTA and our members appreciate the time, energy, and effort Ambassador Greer and the USTR team invested around the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) to gain broad support for making the moratorium permanent.

Letting MC14 close without a long-term agreement is unfortunate. Allowing the e-commerce duty moratorium agreement to expire entirely is a crisis. Global organizations like the WTO remain critical as platforms for the United States to work with partner countries, and deadlock on major issues serves no one. 

This is the first instance of a WTO ministerial conference producing a net-negative trade outcome. For the first time in decades, WTO members can now freely impose tariffs on cross-border data flows. That will make the global economy even more fragmented and costly over time. 

We urge WTO members to see renewal of the moratorium as the most urgent priority when they come back to the negotiating table in May.

About Consumer Technology Association (CTA)^®: 

As North America’s largest technology trade association, CTA is the tech sector. Our members are the world’s leading innovators – from startups to global brands – helping support more than 17 million American jobs. CTA owns and produces CES® – the most powerful tech event in the world. Find us at CTA.tech. Follow us @CTAtech.