Digital Trade Law Policy

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines how digital technologies are transforming international trade and how law and policy are responding to this transformation. As cross-border data flows, digital services, platform-based commerce, and artificial intelligence increasingly structure the global economy, international trade law faces growing pressure to adapt to new regulatory realities. At the same time, states are deploying digital trade rules as instruments of industrial policy, geopolitical competition, and development strategy. The course introduces students to the legal and policy foundations of digital trade under WTO law, preferential trade agreements, digital economy agreements, and unilateral regulatory approaches. It explores competing models of digital trade governance, and examines how these models shape regulatory choices on data flows, platforms, and emerging technologies. Particular attention is paid to tensions between trade liberalization and regulatory autonomy, as well as to development concerns such as the digital divide and digital capacity-building. Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) – By the end of the course, students will be able to: 1. Explain the core legal concepts and institutions governing digital trade at the multilateral and preferential levels, including the WTO, PTAs, and Digital Economy Agreements. 2. Analyze how different regulatory models approach digital trade issues such as cross-border data flows, digital services, and emerging technologies. 3. Evaluate the trade-offs between digital sovereignty, market openness, regulatory autonomy, and development objectives in digital trade law and policy.