What has Digital Trade Brought to Trade Agreements?—Focusing on Non-trade Concerns

The growing digitalization in the economy and society has brought a variety of impacts and new challenges for international trade. As a result, there is a need for changes or evolutions in trade agreements to adapt to this trend. Shedding light on some of these emerging changes or evolutions in trade agreements, this paper aims to examine the emerging global regulatory environment for digital trade, particularly in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To that end, it first provides an overview of the concepts of digital trade and reviews the key impacts and challenges arising from the growth of digital trade. It then examines the extent to which trade agreements are adapting to these challenges by analyzing World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements and FTAs. The FTAs considered here are the advanced FTAs of the “rule-maker” countries that are leading the way in establishing digital trade rules, namely CPTPP, USMCA, DEPA, DEA, UKSDEA, EU-UKTCA, and EUSDTP. In addition, RCEP is also included in the scope, as it covers major trading partners. Based on the results of the research, the paper presents the following conclusions: firstly, the state of mutual interaction between agreements in the formation of digital trade rules; secondly, the extension of the reach of trade agreements brought about by digital trade and the implications thereof; thirdly, the increasing presence of the “right to regulate” in trade agreements in consonance with the emergence of digital trade rules; and fourthly, the need for increased stakeholder participation in the regulation of digital trade.