Digital Trade in the U.S. and Global Economies

Digital trade is defined in this report as commerce in products and services delivered via the Internet. This report provides information on the role of digital trade in the U.S. and global economies, describes notable barriers and impediments to digital trade, and outlines potential approaches for further assessing the role of digital trade in the U.S. economy. Products and services delivered via the Internet make up a growing segment of the U.S. economy. Internet technologies have also transformed how many goods and services in the economy are produced and delivered. Digital sales make up more than half of music industry revenue; the digital shares of sales for games, videos, and books are smaller, but growing quickly. U.S. exports of digitally enabled services (one measure of international digital trade) grew from $282.1 billion in 2007 to $356.1 billion in 2011, with exports exceeding imports every year. Studies that have quantified the economic contributions of the Internet have generally found that it has made significant contributions to U.S. output, employment, consumer welfare, trade, innovation, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Digital trade can help producers lower their operating costs and work more efficiently. Small and medium-sized enterprises especially benefit from having lower-cost access to a wider range of products, services, and markets. Consumers benefit by gaining greater access to information about products and prices and more convenient ways to shop. Among the most notable barriers and impediments to digital trade reported were localization barriers, data privacy and protection measures, intellectual property-related issues, online censorship, as well as impediments to digitally enabled trade.