Conclusion

It should be a relatively simple matter for the 86 WTO members negotiating on a WTO digital trade agreement to achieve a consensus on some of the most basic issues, such as has already been done with spam. Indeed, much of the lowhanging fruit of digital trade seems ripe to be picked. In contrast, though, much of the fruit at the top of the digital tree seems to be beyond our current grasp. This is why a modular approach to a WTO digital trade agreement would be best. It would enable WTO members to agree on what they can agree on now while offering options for incremental agreement on the harder issues on which they cannot currently agree. A consensus on the most that can be achieved now is more likely to be reached with a flexible approach that permits WTO members to agree to different levels of commitments at different times within different modular categories of digital trade. With the benefit of such a flexible approach, the members of the WTO that are working diligently to negotiate rules on “trade-related electronic commerce” may be able to conclude an initial plurilateral WTO digital trade agreement that could help spur more digital trade now and that could ultimately become more fully multilateral and more fully responsive to the evolving needs of the new digital economy. Failure to conclude a digital trade agreement by the time of the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva should not be considered an option if WTO members hope to sustain the credibility of the WTO and to maintain the centrality of the WTO to world trade.