Exploring digital trade provisions in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) in times of crisis: India and Asia-Pacific countries

Abstract

The advent of the coronavirus in early 2020 led to the severe shutdown of economic activities across the globe. The virus led to a pandemic affecting the physical facilitation of cross border merchandise trade. International trade is augmented with trade documentation and physical verification. Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) as WTO plus agreements between countries have provided bilateral trade opportunities for participating countries. Due to the pandemic, several physical processes shifted to digital mode and people were forced to participate, giving a boost to the digital economy across the world. Developing and under-developed countries were left behind due to a lack of clarity on digital trade provisions in the present WTO framework. Though, RTAs provided much scope for interpreting the existing provisions with innovation for the current times. The present study explores the digital trade provisions in the RTAs and how the pandemic will further push inculcating provisions. The focus is on RTAs that exist in the Asia Pacific region, along with India's perspective. The study identifies the initial digital provisions and collaborations, and evaluates the scope of digital trade.