Article: The Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce: Are We There Yet?

Negotiations on electronic commerce (e-commerce) or digital trade at the World Trade Organization (WTO) have faced prolonged challenges and yielded limited results thus far. The lack of progress under the Work Programme on E-Commerce spurred like-minded WTO Members to initiate the Joint Initiative on E-Commerce (E-Commerce JI) negotiations in 2019. Currently, ninetyWTO Members are involved in the E-Commerce JI negotiations, and the participants hope to conclude an agreement by the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference in February 2024. The goal is to conclude the first near-multilateral digital trade agreement.While common ground has been found on some topics, disagreements persist internally and with some WTO Members that are not part of the negotiations. In contrast, there has been a proliferation of digital trade rulemaking in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), which underscores the global interest in regulating this domain. Yet, PTAs, being exclusionary by nature, risk marginalizing countries that are not party to these agreements. This highlights the importance of obtaining some agreement at theWTO. Balancing pragmatism and ambition is crucial to overcoming the challenges and complexities of regulating digital trade for a diverse set of economies and interests at the multilateral level. digital trade, e-commerce, electronic commerce, WTO, Joint Initiative on Electronic Commerce, JI on E-Commerce, negotiations, digital trade rulemaking, preferential trade agreements