Adapting Trade Rules for the Age of Big Data

Abstract

The chapter looks at some of the disruptive changes brought about by digital technologies that matter for trade and trade policy. It then analyzes the responses that trade policy has formulated to address these changes. The chapter focuses in particular on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP), as the most advanced model so far and one that has now found continuation in the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA). The chapter goes on to contextualize and assess the impact of the existing legal framework, as shaped almost predominantly by free trade agreements. The chapter ultimately asks whether there are better ways to address the challenges of the data-driven economy and what the essential elements of a working regulatory model may be.