US eyes quick expansion of technology trade pact

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - The United States is optimistic countries will agree to expand a landmark agreement that helped triple world trade in semiconductors, computers and other technology products to $4 trillion over the past 15 years, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday.

"I've been very encouraged by what I've been hearing from other (World Trade Organization) members," Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro said in an interview. "We want to do this as quickly as possible. We want to frame this for success."

The Information Technology Agreement, which was signed by the United States and 28 other countries in 1996, eliminated duties on eight categories of information and communications technology products, helping to cut costs, increase company productivity and drive innovation.

The groundbreaking pact now includes 73 countries but still covers the same products as the day it was signed.

That leaves out hundreds of goods created over the last 15 years, such as GPS systems, flat panel displays and video game consoles such as Microsoft's xBox (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) or Sony's PlayStation (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research), and many everyday products such as televisions, DVD players and audio speakers not originally included.

The United States wants to expand the current product list as much as possible and also bring additional countries into the pact, Sapiro said, noting that Russia is already set to join when it becomes a WTO member this year.

The Information Technology & Innovation FoundNews