US move to withdraw some digital trade proposals at WTO to benefit India

The development comes ahead of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference and will see in-depth discussions on global e-commerce rules that include these topics

The United States' (US) decision to withdraw proposals at the World Trade Organization (WTO), including allowing free cross-border data flows, is set to benefit India, considering its similar approach in the policy area.

The withdrawals were made in Geneva during a meeting of the WTO's Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce, where officials from the US said that they were reviewing its approach to trade rules in sensitive areas such as data and source code. These proposals were made four years ago during former US President Donald Trump's regime.

The development comes ahead of the WTO's 13th ministerial conference (MC13), which is four months away and will see in-depth discussions on global e-commerce rules that include these topics.

A Delhi-based think tank, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), said the new US stand on digital trade validates India's approach. "India had long ago foreseen potential challenges with unregulated digital trade and thus refrained from participating in the WTO e-commerce negotiations and has a conservative stand in FTAs," GTRI said in its report.

India has also not joined the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework's (IPEF) trade pillar, which includes taking 'onerous' commitments on digital trade, it said.

India has avoided participating in the WTO e-commerce negotiations, mainly driven by factors such as an absence of data protection legislation dominance of a few e-commerce companies. Besides, India has been wanting to have some flexibility in this policy space, considering the rapidly evolving nature of this space. 

"Given the US's dominant role in the global digital landscape, this decision is poised to spark a worldwide reassessment of national e-commerce policies, potentially reshaping the future of digital trade agreements. The key issues will be ensuring ample "policy space" and revisiting national digital trade strategies," it said, adding that the recent decision indicates the growing importance of national security and data sovereignty in the digital age.

(With agency inputs)