An Industry Whose Time Has Come
     Although e-commerce issues were mentioned at the last WTO meeting, Seattle's gathering marks the debut of high-tech issues in a high-profile role in trade negotiations. Before the meeting, top U.S. trade negotiator Charlene Barshefsky consistently stumped for the electronic commerce agenda: extend the current moratorium on e-commerce tariffs, keep intellectual property protections strong, ensure that current trade law applies to e-commerce.
     That a high-tech agenda even secured a place on the United States' wish list for trade negotiations was symbolic of e-commerce becoming a significant force in international trade, said Mario Correa, manager of trade policy with the Business Software Alliance.
     "This is the first ministerial where there was a real consciousness of our issues," he said. "I think it shows that we've matured, that we've grown internationally."

Getting To Know You
     Because e-commerce issues within the United States have boiled over onto the international scene in recent years, Connie Correll, director of communications with the Information Technology Industry Council, said it's now up to U.S. industry groups to educate developing countries on ways to spark their e-commerce growth.
     Part of this learning process took place during the private sector's E-commerce Day in Seattle. Far from the din of protesters, international representatives from government and high-tech industry met to discuss challenges to building an e-commerce infrastructure and ways to nurture global trade in this area.
     Oscar Hernandez, a minister representing Venezuela at the WTO, explained that poor infrastructure and general uncertainty stymied e-commerce in his nation.
     "The reason it hasn't been a smooth ride is uncertainty. We haven't been able to get on board easily," he said.
     Nii Narku Quaynor, CEO of Network Computer Systems in Ghana, said he worried that big U.S. e-commerce businesses would drive local business out of his country, and wished the WTO would have addressed potential revenue loss for developing nations. Using the example of Amazon.com, Quaynor wondered how long it would be before the popular online bookstore squashed smaller bookstores in Ghana.
     For U.S. leaders and businesses, the message was clear: although developing countries want to get in on this new form of commerce, they face steep and complex obstacles.
     "It's important to understand people look at [e-commerce] through different prisms," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-WA, who attended the day-long session.

Hurry Up And Wait
     Because so many countries haven't begun to address the thornier issues facing e-commerce, much of high-tech's agenda avoided the controversy that agriculture and labor issues faced at the WTO. That's both good and bad news, according to Michael Maibach, vice president of government affairs for Intel. On one hand, high-tech industry wasn't dealt any blows, he said. But it also highlights the low priority that e-commerce has in the spectrum of other trade talks.
     "It shows that for many countries, this digital revolution is pretty far away," Maibach said, adding that many countries didn't have a high-tech agenda heading to Seattle.
     Maibach also dismissed the idea that the high-tech industry came out of Seattle unscathed because nothing was decided. Industry groups have expressed satisfaction in recent days that e-commerce maintained the status-quo and current intellectual property protections weren't weakened. But Maibach said it's bad for industry when trade talks derail.
     "It's putting a pretty face on a dead duck," he said. "This is not good. It couldn't be good."

The Long And Winding Road
     Indeed, the WTO might have been a good measure for some of the growing pains e-commerce could face in the coming years. Rachel Thompson, an e-commerce analyst with the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, wondered whether countries would use the postponed trade talks as an excuse to let the deadlines for completing their current trade commitments sour, which could hurt e-commerce. Using the analogy of electronic commerce as an industry in its teen years, Thompson said launching a new round would have helped the industry mature.
     Still, Thompson insists that there's been steady progress for e-commerce as trade negotiators educate themselves on the issues. That education could have paid off in Seattle, and several industry officials said trade talks were leaning in high-tech's favor. Although the tech-industry did not walk away from the meeting with a single, coveted piece of paper, Thompson said e-commerce made important strides.
     "We have to see value in dialogue and the educational role," she said. "You can be pretty confident that negotiators will go into the next meeting with a better understanding of e-commerce."
- by Caroline Broder