First move to agree e-commerce rules

Impatient with a lack of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules to cover the explosive growth of e-commerce, 76 countries and regions including the EU, US, and Japan have agreed to start negotiating a set of open and predictable regulations.

China, which is locked in a trade war with the US, signalled conditional support for the initiative but said it should also take into account the needs of developing countries, in comments likely to rile Washington.