Tech Groups Hail US-Japan Agreement on Digital Trade as Positive First Step

The U.S. and Japan reached two agreements to “rebalance trade,” said the White House Wednesday. One of the deals “includes robust commitments on digital trade, which will greatly expand commerce across our modern industries,” it said. A second calls for Japan to open its markets to about $7 billion in U.S. agricultural exports, it said. Talks will continue “in the months ahead” toward a “final, comprehensive trade deal,” it said. Tech groups welcomed the digital trade accord. Along with the digital and e-commerce rules in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade, "this agreement with Japan now makes the two strongest trade agreements in U.S. history for digital trade and cross-border data flows," said CTA. "At a time when every company is essentially a tech company, it’s critical to have a new standard for global rules that ensures American innovation can thrive across borders.” Japan is America’s fourth-largest digital trading partner, “and this agreement enshrines key rules of the road from our shared digital framework,” said the Internet Association: “Digital trade benefits businesses of all sizes in every sector, and this agreement will only grow the $38 billion in digital trade between our two countries.” The “first-stage” U.S.-Japan agreement on digital trade is “a positive step toward solidifying international norms that ensure that global markets remain fair, open, and competitive in the modern economy,” said the Information Technology Industry Council. A future comprehensive U.S.-Japan trade agreement "would help to partially fill the void left by the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership," said the Computer & Communications Industry Association.