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This article argues that the inclusion of provisions for the settlement of disputes in regional trade agreements enhances, rather than disrupts, the centrality of the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement system. Using a dataset that organizes exclusion clauses and special provisions for dispute settlement in regional trade agreements, the study develops a thematic typology that is used to examine the ways that disputes may be channelled between regional and multilateral dispute settlement institutions. This comparative empirical dimension offers a more accurate picture of the global contours of regionalization as they relate to the juridical aspects of trade governance, suggesting that the decentralization of dispute settlement inferred by the rapid development of regional bodies has been overstated.

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There were 288 regional trade agreements (RTAs) in force at the end of 2018, approximately one quarter (27%) of which included digital trade provisions. These e-commerce chapters have evolved from simple statements, to more comprehensive attempts to cultivate digital trade. This article tests the hypothesis that as e-commerce chapters have become more common and more detailed, their legal enforceability has also risen. Enforceability is measured using a qualitative empirical analysis of seventy-eight e-commerce chapters in RTAs notified to the World Trade Organization. The first section reviews recent initiatives to map and track e-commerce provisions in RTAs. The second section uses count data and text-as-data to develop a time-sequence, process tracing examination of the relationship between e-commerce chapters and dispute settlement. The analysis emphasizes the trajectory of development, from earliest related provisions in 2001 to next-generation agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the newNorth American agreement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA). The conclusion provides a discussion of the consequences of this evolving relationship for the multilateral governance of trade at the WTO.