Governments of the US and China have agreed to eliminate duties on a wide range of IT products, including software, GPS devices and semiconductors.

The extension to the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) could be ratified by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December, as long as other trade partners accept the same terms – something that’s expected by US officials.

China manufactures more electronics than any other country in the world, while the US is setting standards in research and design, so a closer trade relationship would be beneficial for both.

Tech imports
Changes to the ITA were agreed during president Obama’s visit to China to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping. The US has been trying to expand the 1997 treaty for a while, to take into account all of the technologies developed over the past 20 years, but the two countries couldn’t decide on which tariffs should be reduced.

“We’re going to take what’s been achieved here in Beijing back to Geneva to work with our WTO partners,” said Michael Froman, the US trade representative. “While we don’t take anything for granted, we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to work quickly.”

In its current form, the deal would reduce prices on more than 200 categories of technology products, from video game consoles to medical equipment and processors. In total, it could eliminate tariffs on around US$1 trillion worth of goods.

The US officials called changes to the ITA the first major tariff-cutting deal at the WTO in 17 years.

President Obama will meet the Chinese president on Tuesday evening. According to The Guardian, the two will discuss cooperation on cybersecurity, among other things. The last China-US working group on this subject was disbanded earlier this year, after the US filed charges against five officers of the People’s Liberation Army, accusing them of hacking American organizations.

It is hoped that Obama will also be able to negotiate a reduction in Chinese carbon emissions.