fifteen Asian states signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) 1 that concluded years of negotiations despite uphill geopolitical issues. The agreement is likely to create a populous trade area, boosting intraregional investment and resulting in an important foreign direct investment destination. 2 Generally speaking, the RCEP builds on the free trade agreements (FTAs) signed between RCEP members with a commitment to market access and harmonizes the rules related to trade and investment. It also provides a skeleton for future negotiations based on the existing commitments. According to the recently released summary by the Secretariat, the RCEP aims to establish a 'modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership that will facilitate the expansion of regional trade and investment and contribute to global economic growth and development '. 3 The significance of the RCEP is more geo-political rather than a classical norm-makernorm-taker relationship. No doubt, certain countries such as China will use the RCEP to benefit and strengthen their geo-political influence in the region. This does not

The links between and among digital trade, development, and inequality are multifaceted and ever evolving. They depend on what is understood as development and as inequality, concepts that transcend the North-South divide, and the fora in which these issues arise. Conceptually, development and inequality are intrinsically intertwined as the measures to address both are often complementary or even the same. In this essay, we consider development and inequality as pertaining to the ability of developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs) to shape and participate in the digital economy, and particularly, the regulatory framework for digital trade. We explore how the relationships between digital trade, development, and inequality are addressed in the main venues for digital trade rulemaking: the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). We then examine two contentious issues in digital trade: the customs duty moratorium and data governance.

No abstract