Nextrade partners with Google, AWS to monitor digital trade agreements' implementation

In 2018, 11 countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam – came together to sign the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

However, a critical challenge to the CPTPP remains: some CPTPP members’ incomplete implementation of the agreement’s ecommerce provisions. Indeed, our firm-level surveys show that better implementation of the agreement should be the top priority for the bloc.

The broader challenge is global: there exists to date no framework and process for monitoring the proliferating digital trade agreements' and ecommerce chapters' implementation by member economies.

In 2022, Nextrade was hired by Google and AWS to develop a framework for monitoring digital trade agreements and develop the first data on the implementation of the CPTPP's ecommerce chapter and ideating a groundbreaking process for the members to together monitor the implementation of their digital trade provisions.