Global Digital Trade and Implications for Trade Negotiation: Deciphering the Data Flows and Implications on Revenues Losses

There is a growing debate on the electronic commerce modes of deliveries, the core issue of the two-year moratorium and the extension of similar treatment of all digitisable products. Looking for similarity to Doha Round sectoral proposals, wherein also tariff elimination was at the core of negotiation. Therefore, this working paper seeks to provide answers for some pertinent questions that would help to bring clarity in further negotiations. One of the principal questions is the extent to which the elimination of tariff would influence trade in digitisable products. We have explored this question using imports data of WTO membership and non-WTO members. Further, extending the analysis, we are also looking at implications for WTO member countries of the possible impact of electronic commerce on the traditional means of distribution of physical goods (WTO, 1998). The following questions: What is the global trend of digitisable products trade and the implication for Trade Negotiations, and Secondly, what is the extent of revenue losses across the WTO grouping?

One major challenge is there are no mechanism to capture the fast vanishing commerce (trade) which is flowing through the internet and wires. It is established beyond doubt that a significant amount of commerce has shifted in the context of 30 digitisable products. The official data as recorded by the established practice is unable to account for and therefore is largely made available by private consultant firms. Some other challenges that would discussed are increasing necessity to built-in legitimate and official mechanisms that capture trade and data flows, at two levels custom-ports and at the micro-level capturing the financial flows of firms/merchant banks/transaction banks. The study would explore the possibility of expansion in the digitization across the manufacturing sector with the application of 3D printers and other enabling legislation. Further, the study clearly establishes that the developing and the LDCs are turned into prime markets for expansion of digitisable products exported by developed and other emerging markets. The developed countries and other emerging markets had the least impacts in terms of revenue losses based on the evidence in 2017.