What the Shift to Digital Services Means for the World: Changing patterns in global trade

The 2024 edition of the AIG Global Trade Series explores the theme of ‘Back to the Future: A New Era of Managed Trade?’

Digitally delivered services have experienced a four-fold increase in value since 2005 and now account for a significant share of all services exports. At a time of growing concern about the slowdown in global trade in goods, the boom in digital services trade is a comparative bright spot.

But does this perception fully align with the reality? Are the pressures on the global trade system - such as geopolitics, the risk of trade fragmentation and non-tariff measures - really less disruptive of digital services trade than they are of trade in goods? How could the WTO help promote and protect digital trade and harmonise regulatory approaches to digital services? And what does a growth in digital services mean for development and inclusion?

Panellists:
Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics, IMD Business School

Jennifer Hillman, Professor of Practice, Georgetown University Law Center; Co-Director, Center for Inclusive Trade and Development (CITD)

Emily Jones, Director of the Global Economic Governance programme, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Jane Drake-Brockman, Executive Director, Australian Services Institute

Moderator:
Rem Korteweg, Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael Institute

This podcast episode was recorded on 12 September 2024.

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The Global Trade Series is a collaboration between AIG and the following international organisations with leading expertise on global trade:

the Aspen Institute Germany; CEBRI - the Brazilian Center for International Relations; Chatham House (UK); CITD - the Center on Inclusive Trade and Development at Georgetown University Law Center (US); the Clingendael Institute (The Netherlands); Elcano Royal Institute (Spain); ERIA – the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (Indonesia); ISPI - the Italian Institute for International Political Studies; the Jacques Delors Institute (France); RIETI - the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (Japan); and the St. Gallen Endowment for Prosperity through Trade (Switzerland).