After four years of negotiations at the WTO, a “stabilised text” for the WTO Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce was released in July. This is a text now broadly agreed upon within negotiations, although there may be further minor adjustments to reach a final text. The JSI is one of the most important negotiations…
After a COVID-19 hiatus, we hope to resume publishing more regular articles on digital trade on this blog as discussions continue to expand. The WTO “Joint Statement Initiative on E-commerce” (E-commerce JSI) may not have been concluded or formalised during the bi-annual Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June, but it remains very much at the forefront…
Discussions around e-commerce and digital trade in the WTO have been relatively quiet over the past year or two. But recently there have been several new reports detailing progress, as well as a leaked early draft of the JSI negotiation text which highlight important areas for attention. Background Following the failure of WTO members to…
During a visit to The White House in February, Kenya’s President Kenyatta agreed to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the US. This has been described in US commentary as an example for African nations to “deepen…economic and commercial ties”, moving beyond the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Will the FTA include…
In recent months we have seen the signing of two agreements on digital trade within standalone agreements (i.e. not part of wider trade agreements). In August, the Singapore-Australia Digital Economy Agreement (SADEA) was signed (text). In September, The Digital Economy Partner Agreement (DEPA) was agreed, between Singapore, New Zealand & Chile (text). Several questions come…