Current Status and Implications of Major FTAs in the Asia-Pacific Region: focusing on the digital trade norms of major regional trade system

The rise of the digital economy and digital trade contributes to economic growth by opening up new business possibilities for companies and lowering transaction costs and market barriers related to products and services. Therefore, it is imperative, for the sake of the growth of digital commerce, that the hurdles that have been placed in the way of digital trade be removed. This deregulation is at the core of the liberalization of digital trade. However, due to the nature of digital transactions, vulnerabilities such as personal information protection, consumer protection, and national security may develop as a result of cross-border information transfer, and appropriate regulations are also required to mitigate these risks. Despite their validity, digital regulations can be used as “a disguised trade tool” to shield local companies from foreign competition and buy time for domestic businesses to fast adopt new foreign technology. In this way, digital regulations can impede the growth of the digital economy. For digital trade to keep growing, international trade rules need to be updated to strike a balance between the need for restrictions on cross-border information flow and the negative effects on digital commerce. Meanwhile, digital trade norms are being formed around the U.S. and the U.S. has been building a U.S.-centered digital trade order by presenting advanced digital trade norms through the Korea-U.S. FTA, TPP (before it was renamed CPTPP after leaving the U.S.), USMCA, and USJDTA. However, because the digital trade policies of the EU and China, two other significant pillars of digital commerce, differ from those of the US, it remains to be seen whether the development of US-led digital trade standards will eventually settle down as a standard model for the international community. In addition to traditional issues such as tariff-free principle on electronic transmission, electronic signature, and electronic authentication, and paperless trade, the location of computer facilities for digital trade liberalization and privacy protection is currently in dispute among major nations such as the United States, the European Union, China, and others. So, to make our own strategic plans, we need to closely look at each country's digital trade policy direction. Digital trade norms are widely recognized as one of the core topics of the emerging new trade order, but they are also controversial and disagreeable. In other words, unlike traditional WTO trade norms or FTAs, digital trade norms have not yet formed a formal normative system and framework. In this circumstance, major nations such as the US, the EU, and China are at odds about who should lead the development of digital trade regulations. In the future, Korea will also play an important role by participating in digital trade negotiations according to various needs. As a result, there will be more chances to be a "standard-setter" for new digital trade standards that will be widely used by the global community. Proactive steps should be taken to actively take part in the process of making (or signing) digital trade standards.