WTO Members Ink Deal to Cut Red Tape for Services Trade
Sixty-seven World Trade Organization members concluded negotiations to simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations in services trade, the WTO announced after a Dec. 2 meeting of the Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation (DR JSI). The negotiated text will seek to cut administrative costs in services trade and create a more streamlined environment in which service providers can do business in foreign markets. The development received immediate praise from the major players at the WTO, including the U.S. and the European Union.
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“The United States has long championed transparency and fairness of regulatory rules as a fundamental feature of good governance, and the DR JSI is an opportunity to strengthen such standards around the globe,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said. “This initiative is the first successful WTO services negotiation in years, and shows how WTO Members can take practical, common sense steps to address clearly defined trade problems.”