WTO Head Sees Possible Global E-Commerce Trade Deal by 2024

The head of the World Trade Organization is hopeful that nations will reach an agreement to set global e-commerce rules by 2024.

“E-commerce is booming but we don’t have rules that underpin it like we have for merchandise trade,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during a World Economic Forum panel in Davos on Wednesday. “We hope that by the end of 2024, we can come up with rules that underpin global trade.”

Over the past three years, WTO members have been negotiating new rules to cover the $26.7 trillion market.

If successful, a digital trade accord hashed out through ...