This article analyzes current changes related to the international regulation of digital trade.
In the context of technological transformation, the concept of digital trade is expanding. Under the influence of political decisions and the priorities of big companies, it includes an increasingly wider range of issues, which complicates the development of international rules.
Since 2000, the digital economy has taken an important place on the agenda of negotiations on free trade agreements. At the same time new types of arrangements have arisen—digital trade agreements, including provisions on e-commerce and data movement. Their compatibility with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in terms of preferential regimes raises objective doubts.
Key participants in international digital trade (the European Union (EU), the US, and China) have different approaches to the formation of international rules. Their positions on certain issues may be revised and brought closer together. In recent years, Singapore has been increasingly active in developing international agreements on the digital economy, striving to become a global hub in physical and digital trade.
Existing agreements of the WTO were designed before the rapid development of the Internet, so the conditions for conducting digital trade and the commitments of members in it are largely uncovered. Today, it is difficult to negotiate in a multilateral format at the organization. In this regard, the development of rules on e-commerce is taking place in a plurilateral format—the Joint Initiative.
The findings suggest that despite the stabilization of the text of the WTO Agreement on Electronic Commerce, the outcome of future of negotiations remains uncertain, both due to political disagreements and the crisis in the WTO.

This work is an output of a research project “Transformation of the regulatory paradigm for international trade in terms of sanctions”, implemented as part of the Research Program of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at HSE University in 2024.

This article was submitted on 26.05.2024.