General

On May 20th, the 2023 Tsinghua Wudaokou Global Financial Forum opened. Zhang Xiangchen, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization, pointed out that as a medium to long-term prediction, the future situation of international trade will be digital, green, and inclusive.

Zhang Xiangchen stated that digitization has become the main technological factor affecting international trade. The past technological reforms were mechanical and electronic, but there is no doubt that in this round of technological reforms, digital technology is having a significant impact on the entire economy and society. Digitalization has already changed the traditional way of trade in goods and services, creating many new products and trading methods.

Regarding the benefits brought by digital technology, Zhang Xiangchen pointed out that digital technology has reduced the costs of international trade exports, including transportation and logistics costs, cross-border costs, information transaction costs, cross-border payment costs, etc. Especially, digital platforms have the characteristics of greater inclusiveness and lower barriers. However, it also faces risks of monopoly and issues of protecting data. The development of digitalization has extended the global value chain, made it more complex, and also affected the layout of global production.

In addition, Zhang Xiangchen also mentioned that the importance of digital infrastructure, market size, market management system, and intellectual property rights is increasing in changing production factors.

At the same time, due to the increasing role of digital development, the impact of technological barriers on market access is also increasing. Therefore, the importance of coordinating policies and formulating new international trade rules in international trade is becoming more prominent. The rapid flow of data requires the global establishment of a set of rules to coordinate policies of countries in data flow, storage, protection, cybersecurity, and national security.