The Effects of Digital Services Trade Barriers on ICT Services Exports

The trade subjects of digital services have constructed and strictly implemented a more targeted system of trade barriers. Information Communications Technology (ICT) services, as an important trade subject in the digital services field, are more prominently affected by the digital services trade barriers. To investigate the trade effects of digital services trade barriers on ICT services exports, this paper conducts a series of empirical tests using trade panel data of 18 exporting countries and 38 importing countries during the period of 2014–2020. Our results in the benchmark regression show that digital services trade barriers significantly inhibit the expansion of ICT services exports. By the industry and country heterogeneity analysis, we first find computer services are most significantly affected by the negative effect of the digital services trade barriers; then it reveals that the degree of trade inhibition of high ICT countries exporting to low ICT countries is extremely significant, followed by low ICT inter-country exports.