The International Trade Secretary has confirmed that she has reached agreement in principle with Singapore on the world’s most comprehensive digital trade agreement.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that the Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) will capitalise on the UK’s strengths as the world’s second largest services exporter and leading digital hub.
The DEA will, she went on, take the UK’s trading relationship with Singapore — worth £16 billion in 2020 — to the next level by overhauling outdated trade rules that affect both goods and services exporters, making it easier for UK business to target new opportunities in both Singapore and lucrative Asian markets.
A third of the UK’s exports to Singapore are already digitally delivered, including in finance, advertising and engineering, and this deal will create new opportunities to expand digital trade.
The DEA is the latest and most ambitious digital trade measure following new agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand that all contain advanced digital chapters. Wide-ranging benefits include better data flows, stronger cybersecurity and closer links between two hi-tech and services hubs.
“Digital trade is creating a new global economy”, Ms Trevelyan said, “but it is still largely governed by old-fashioned rules that pre-date the digital revolution of the past 20 years.”
Andy Burwell, CBI Director, International, said that the DEA will help to unlock digital trade and support key industries of the future while techUK CEO Julian David described it as exciting news for the tech sector and the broader services economy.
William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: “This agreement will be welcomed by both UK goods and services exporters alike. It will ensure no customs duties on electronic transmission, deeper measures to facilitate e-commerce and more ambitious steps on data flows alongside safeguards for businesses and consumers.”
