Biden Can Outflank China With a Digital Trade Deal
A digital trade accord — a set of common standards on how online data and their processors from one country will be treated in another — is the perfect vehicle for President Joe Biden’s much-awaited Asia pivot. It could also be a powerful tool for countering Beijing, say Andy Mukherjee and Tim Culpan.
The U.S. should embrace the recent Digital Economy Partnership Agreement between Singapore, New Zealand and Chile as a starting point. Its strength is a modular approach that allows countries to join without having to accept the agreement in its entirety. For Washington, this could be crucial to building the momentum needed to building a large digital trade bloc. Small firms in emerging markets getting assured online access to large advanced markets would be America’s answer to China’s Belt-and-Road network.
Washington can work with allies to set standards of interoperability and behavior. With many countries teetering on the brink of digital authoritarianism, risking a plunge toward the kinds of controls seen in China and Myanmar, the Biden administration has the chance to lay out an alternative vision of interconnectedness, encompassing everything from data management to electronic commerce and artificial intelligence.
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