Comparative analysis of digital trade development strategies and governance approaches

Abstract

With the process of digitalization, digital trade has become the primary pattern of international trade, and digital platforms and data have become two essential ingredients in digital trade. Meanwhile, the governance of digital trade has been a critical issue in international cooperation and domestic regulation. The governance system on digital trade is fragmented, and the governance approaches of the leading economies show divergences and conflicts. With the aim to explore the factors for the policy conflicts, this article selects the United States, the European Union, China, and India as typical cases to analyze their trade development strategies and digital trade rules comparatively. We find that the four economies adopt differentiated digital trade policies and data governance approaches on the basis of digital industrial benefits. We concluded that the government implements trade policies strategically to influence the distribution of digital trade gains and increase the share of the digital industry by intervening in cross-border data flows. This article contributes to current research by keeping up with the latest progress in digital trade governance and making theoretical analyses on strategic digital trade policies and governance approaches.