Digital Trade Agreements: overview and next steps

As part of the CONNECT University Autumn School’s global tour of the EU’s International Digital Strategy in action, this session explores how digital trade policy supports  is part of the EU’s external digital engagement. In a rapidly evolving geopolitical and technological landscape, digital trade is a key enabler of secure, trusted, and inclusive global cooperation.

This session will offer a clear overview of the EU’s digital trade aims and instruments, showing how they help overcome barriers, promote facilitation tools, and foster consumer trust online. It fits into the broader week by highlighting how trade policy contributes to the EU’s strategic goals for international digital partnerships and governance.

By zooming in on digital trade we would be demonstrating how trade instruments like Digital Trade Agreements and Free Trade Agreements are essential tools for translating strategic ambitions into concrete international action. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how the EU leverages trade to shape global digital norms and open new opportunities for European tech industry and particularly SMEs.

What to expect:

• What is digital trade?
• Key digital trade disciplines: overcoming barriers to digital trade, promoting tools to facilitate digital trade and fostering consumer trust online.
• Digital trade instruments: Digital Trade Agreements, Free Trade Agreements, bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral instruments