The expansion of digital trade will incentivize the inclusion of digital matters into future trade agreements, but slow regulatory change and growing geopolitical tensions will hamper multilateral frameworks, though countries with digital trade deals will be better positioned to reap the benefits of expanding digital trade. In the last two decades, multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have facilitated the cross-border movement of goods and services. While the largest and most established FTAs include e-commerce chapters, even these are narrow in scope when considering how central electronic goods and services are to modern economies. Moreover, e-commerce chapters are increasingly outdated in the wake of rapid technological advancements. Among other things, the significant pace of internet expansion, particularly in developing countries, has fueled the entry of new e-commerce services and products across the globe while regulations and agreements have comparatively lagged. As digital trade increasingly encompasses a growing percentage of many countries'...
