Insights from the Evolution of Digital Economic and Trade Rules in the Context of IPEF

In recent years, China's digital trade has experienced rapid growth. According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in 2022, the scale of China's trade in services that can be delivered digitally reached 2.5 trillion yuan, representing a 78.6% increase compared to five years prior. However, China's digital trade development is characterized by a large scale and high user participation, yet it suffers from relatively weak international discourse power. From the perspective of global vertical specialization, since China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country has gradually transformed from a traditional trading powerhouse to a strong trading nation. Nevertheless, China's digital trade development currently faces issues such as being large but not strong and having a low participation rate in international economic and trade rules. Therefore, to enhance the quality of China's digital trade and its participation in international economic and trade rules, it is necessary to benchmark against high-level international digital economic and trade rules. This will help bridge the gap between China and developed countries in terms of digital trade rules and identify more commonalities and intersections.