Global Biz

US may treat Internet curbs as trade barriers

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-17 09:47

WASHINGTON - The United States is looking into ways to craft trade countermeasures that treat curbs on Internet commerce as nontariff barriers to trade, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Thursday.

Annual global Internet commerce totaled roughly $10 trillion and curbs cost revenues, investment and jobs in the United States, which is particularly competitive in e-commerce, he said.

The Commerce Department's International Trade Administration was formulating a policy response including "the option of treating (Internet) restrictions as nontariff trade barriers and we're working on adapting existing trade tools according," Locke said in remarks at the US Chamber of Commerce.

"Limitations on e-commerce resulting from technical blocking have the same impact as shuttering a brick-and-mortar business or blocking even a physical trade route," he added.

He did not name any countries that blocked the Internet and e-commerce but said his department would issue a report this summer identifying foreign restrictions and the reasons states give for blocking information.