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digital economy | e-commerce


Trump’s deals with Latin American countries advance Big Tech’s global agenda
Continuing the spree of trade agreements being negotiated by the Trump administration, November saw the announcement of four more agreements — with Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
Big Tech presses for expanded giveaways in upcoming USMCA review
New analysis of public comments by lobbyists for the tech industry shows that Big Tech is aggressively pushing for even more deregulatory giveaways, despite the agreement already tilting heavily in their favor.
Trump trade rep targets Canada’s beer and dairy rules in new CUSMA review conditions
US Trade Representative said the US will take aim at two major Canadian policies: the Online Streaming Act, which brought online platforms like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube under Canadian broadcasting rules, and the supply-managed dairy sector, among others.
Is US pressure against foreign digital policy working?
An investigation of US tariff deal priorities and government responses, including an annex with annotated tariff deal texts.
Trade agreements risk undermining consumers’ right to repair, warns TACD Report
The report details how digital trade rules, such as so-called “source code protection” provisions threaten to override ambitious right to repair laws now advancing in both the United States and European Union.
US-UK trade deal hits stumbling block
The US government has paused a tech-focused trade pledge with Britain over broader disagreements about Britain’s digital regulations and food safety rules.
Civil society letter to ASEAN member states on the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) Negotiations
People’s movement are express deep concern and disappointment at the lack of public participation, transparency, and open government processes in the ongoing negotiations of the Digital Economy Framework Agreement to the ASEAN member states.
PAPSS COWRY Lagos 2025: Africa stakes its claim on the future of payments
Since its public debut in January 2022, PAPSS has matured rapidly, now connecting 19 countries, 160 commercial banks, and 15 national switches, allowing cross-border transactions to clear in local currencies within a maximum of 120 seconds.
Taiwan, Japan ink pact on digital trade cooperation
The agreement includes more comprehensive regulations spanning duty-free cross-border electronic transmission, transnational data transmission, paperless trade, personal data.
India, Israel enter deeper trade and tech ties with FTA talks: Report
India and Israel are strengthening their relations centred on trade talks, technology partnerships and strategic coordination, according to a new report.
Beyond tariffs Silicon Valley’s war on digital sovereignty
Trump’s consolidation with Silicon Valley signals a reconfiguration of digital political economy, where US trade policy, technological dominance, and data governance converge.
Banking on data
How the world’s tax havens became the data centres for the digital economy.
US demands ’balanced’ EU digital rules before it cuts steel tariffs
The United States demanded that the European Union make its regulation of the tech sector more "balanced" in exchange for a reduction of US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the bloc.
Google, AfCFTA to train 7,500 African SMEs on AI, digital trade skills
Google and theAfCFTA Secretariat have launched the AfCFTA Digital Inclusion & Entrepreneurship Programme that will train thousands of SMEs across Nigeria and the African continent on critical AI and digital skills to expand their businesses and trade continent-wide.
EU adopts Digital Trade Agreement with Singapore despite warnings: a setback for digital rights and democratic oversight
This decision weakens the Union’s capacity to safeguard privacy, data protection, and accountability over software systems, at a time when deregulation pressures are increasing across Europe.
The EU-Singapore digital trade agreement: gambling away our digital sovereignty
Significant concerns about the potentially negative impacts on EU policy space, digital regulation, data protection, workers’ rights, digital industrialisation efforts and taxation remain unaddressed.
The tech taxes at the heart of Trump’s tariff war
Foreign countries want to take a cut of the proceeds from digital services provided by American companies, and passed their own laws to do so... and now the US is using trade negotiations to pressure those governments into rolling them back.
Digital trade gets a leap forward as the Africa Trade Gateway launches national adoption drive in Rwanda
Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat have taken a major step towards realising Africa’s digital trade potential with the launch of the Africa Trade Gateway’s national adoption campaign in Kigali — a move set to accelerate intra-African commerce and integration.
White House agrees to lower tariffs on some goods from Latin America — including Argentinian beef
The US announced new trade agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador.
Singapore pushes for historic ASEAN-EU digital trade deal
Singapore is driving talks for a groundbreaking digital economy agreement between ASEAN and the European Union, a move that could reshape $300 billion in Southeast Asian digital trade.