{"id":2764,"date":"2020-05-15T22:19:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T22:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/griit.org\/?p=2764"},"modified":"2024-01-29T14:20:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:20:23","slug":"usmca-and-digital-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/griit.org\/usmca-and-digital-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"USMCA and Digital Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Over the last few months, digital trade, although nothing new, has become even more important in supporting crucial services during the coronavirus health pandemic. For instance, digital technology became helpful in quickly sharing information about the virus and to the larger population. Digital technology has also been instrumental in allowing for the cross-border provision of educational and financial services during this period of physical distancing. To date there is only one trade deal that addresses digital trade in-depth. That is the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is scheduled to take effect on July 1st<\/sup>. This post highlights what importers and exporters should know about the USMCA as it relates to this growing part of international business transactions and that has proven significant in the midst of the global health crisis–digital trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018, the United States, Mexico, and Canada signed\na revised version of the 26-year old North American Free Trade Agreement\n(NAFTA), which is the current USMCA. The USMCA was ratified by Mexico in 2019\nand by the United States and Canada in 2020. The USMCA is considered a “new,\nmodernized trade agreement for the 21st<\/sup> century<\/a>.†<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three simple things to know about the agreement as it pertains\nto digital trade are that it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The USMCA’s emphasis on liberalizing digital trade on\nthe North American continent presents opportunities for both products and\nservices that rely on digital technology. However, the actual deepening of digital\ntrade in North America goes beyond a mere trade treaty. Rather, other areas\nmust be addressed, such as: 1) adequate access to the internet and computers,\nespecially for the lower-income populations; and 2) the proper infrastructure\nto allow for equal benefits for the populations throughout the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In sum, the global health pandemic has highlighted the\nsignificance of cross-border digital trade. The USMCA takes into account the 21st<\/sup>\ndigital economy. Once the USMCA trade deal takes effect, U.S. businesses that\nprovide digital goods and services can leverage the agreement to access the\nCanadian and Mexican markets much more easily and vice-versa. Notably, the\nright infrastructure must be in place to ensure that everyone benefits equally\nfrom digital trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional Resources: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Image courtesy of hywards at FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/p> Over the last few months, digital trade, although nothing new, has become even more important in supporting crucial services during the coronavirus health pandemic. For instance, digital technology became helpful in quickly sharing information about the virus and to the larger population. Digital technology has also been instrumental in allowing for the cross-border provision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[114,84,32,156],"tags":[170,112,171,172,35,173,38,70,174,175,159,157],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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