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The One Rule That Made Global Digital Trade Possible
Description
In this episode of Global Trade with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the single rule that enabled the explosive growth of digital trade across borders: the WTO's moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. First agreed in 1998, this simple 'no tariffs on data' pact has allowed everything from Netflix to cloud computing to cross-border software licenses to flow duty-free. But as of July 2026, the moratorium faces its most serious challenge yet, with India, South Africa, and Indonesia arguing it costs developing countries billions in lost tariff revenue. Lucas breaks down the 28-year history of the moratorium, the estimated $3 trillion in digital trade it underpins, and what a world without it might look like — where every software download, every streaming subscription, and every cloud service could suddenly carry a tariff. A deep dive into the quiet backbone of the internet economy.