In recent months, policymakers have made digital trade negotiations a priority. Australia and Singapore negotiated a digital economy agreement; the US and Australia announced that they would update their FTA with an additional digital trade chapter; the US and Britain continued negotiations on a digital trade chapter; and Britain and Australia also announced an FTA with digital trade at its core. Many of these agreements focus on e-commerce and say little about new technological innovations or interoperability among regimes.
However, New Zealand, Singapore, and Chile recently agreed to a new more comprehensive approach--a Digital Economy Partnership Agreement which is open to other nations to join. We will discuss these agreements and how they might be improved with 3 experts from Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
- Professor Patrick LeBlond, Associate Professor and CN-Paul M. Tellier Chair on Business and Public Policy, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, and Senior Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation. Article and Article
- Stephanie Honey, Honey Consulting and former trade negotiator for New Zealand. Article
- Dr. Joshua Meltzer, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and former trade negotiator for Australia. Article

Please register in advance. We welcome you to submit questions in advance for the webinar--please send them to [email protected].
Event Speakers
Patrick Leblond is a CIGI senior fellow. He is an expert in global economic governance and international political economy, regional economic integration, financial regulation, and business and public policy.
Stephanie is a trade policy consultant, associate director of the New Zealand International Business Forum and a policy adviser to the New Zealand members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council. She is also co-founder of a business offering executive education in trade policy.
Joshua Meltzer is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. At Brookings, Meltzer works on international trade law and policy issues with a focus on the World Trade Organization and large free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Specific areas of focus include digital trade where he leads the Digital Economy and Trade Project. Meltzer also works on financing for sustainable infrastructure.