For a long time, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been seen as the privileged multilateral regime to regulate trade. However, given its slow progress in negotiating new trade rules, countries have increasingly shifted their focus to preferential trade agreements (PTAs) since the early 2000s. Focusing on a timely and increasingly important topic (digital trade), we explore how countries’ interactions in the WTO impact on their approaches in designing rules in PTAs. Using newly collected data on digital trade-related provisions in almost 350 PTAs signed since 2000, we find that countries’ participation in digital trade-related initiatives at the WTO spill over to the design of their PTAs. More precisely, we show that countries which actively participate in the discussions of the WTO Work Programme on Electronic Commerce are more likely to negotiate ambitious commitments on digital trade in their PTAs. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that countries which participate in the WTO-based plurilateral Information Technology Agreement (ITA) are more likely to commit to deeper cooperation in the area of digital trade. More broadly, this article contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of regime complexity and how interaction in the multilateral system spills over to regional and bilateral trade regimes.

中文翻译：

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优惠贸易协定中的数字贸易规则：是否会对 WTO 产生影响？

长期以来，世界贸易组织 (WTO) 一直被视为具有特权的多边贸易监管机制。然而，鉴于新贸易规则谈判进展缓慢，自 2000 年代初以来，各国越来越多地将重点转向优惠贸易协定 (PTA)。我们关注一个及时且日益重要的话题（数字贸易），探讨各国在 WTO 中的互动如何影响其在 PTA 中设计规则的方法。使用自 2000 年以来签署的近 350 个 PTA 中有关数字贸易相关条款的新收集数据，我们发现各国在 WTO 中参与与数字贸易相关的举措会溢出到其 PTA 的设计中。更确切地说，我们表明，积极参与 WTO 电子商务工作计划讨论的国家更有可能在其 PTA 中就数字贸易的雄心勃勃的承诺进行谈判。此外，我们的分析表明，参与基于 WTO 的诸边信息技术协议 (ITA) 的国家更有可能致力于在数字贸易领域开展更深入的合作。更广泛地说，本文有助于我们理解制度复杂性的动态以及多边体系中的互动如何溢出到区域和双边贸易制度。我们的分析表明，参与基于 WTO 的诸边信息技术协议 (ITA) 的国家更有可能致力于在数字贸易领域开展更深入的合作。更广泛地说，本文有助于我们理解制度复杂性的动态以及多边体系中的互动如何溢出到区域和双边贸易制度。我们的分析表明，参与基于 WTO 的诸边信息技术协议 (ITA) 的国家更有可能致力于在数字贸易领域开展更深入的合作。更广泛地说，本文有助于我们理解制度复杂性的动态以及多边体系中的互动如何溢出到区域和双边贸易制度。