Sec. 127. Digital trade agreements
306 words·~1 min read·
/bill/117/hr/3524/rh/section-127·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
It is the sense of Congress that— as the COVID–19 pandemic accelerated United States dependence on digital tools, international rules around digital governance and trade have remained largely piecemeal; the People’s Republic of China is operating under and advancing a set of digital rules that are contrary to United States values and interests, and those of United States allies and partners; a patchwork of plurilateral, trilateral, and bilateral digital trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Singapore-Australia Digital Trade Agreement, and the Singapore-New Zealand-Chile Digital Economy Partnership Agreement have emerged, creating a set of rules that the United States should be driving; the United States has already underscored the need for such agreements by signing the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement in October 2019 and including a robust digital trade or e-commerce chapter in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement; a regional deal on digital governance and trade would allow the United States to unite a group of like-minded economies around common standards and norms, including the principles of openness, inclusiveness, fairness, transparency, and the free flow of data with trust, that are increasingly vital for the global economy; such an agreement would facilitate the creation of common rules and standards that govern cross-border data flows, the protection of privacy, and cybersecurity at a time of growing digital vulnerabilities for individuals, businesses, and institutions around the world; such an agreement would facilitate the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the global economy through trade facilitation measures, including e-marketing, e-invoicing and e-payment; and the United States Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretary of State should negotiate bilateral and plurilateral agreements or arrangements relating to digital trade with the like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region, the European Union, the member countries of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, and other partners and allies, as appropriate.