Trade Networks amid Disruption: Promoting Resilience through Digital Trade Facilitation

The fragmented nature of global value chains (GVCs), which defines present-day trade networks, makes them vulnerable to challenges. The measures rolled out by economies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, led to ports being shut, goods unable to be loaded/unloaded, and factories having difficulty accessing raw materials. Such issues have brought forth questions of how GVCs could be strengthened and made more resilient. These developments also have made it apparent that, in improving trade facilitation, minimising trade costs should not be the only consideration; trade resilience is equally (if not more) important. One way of improving trade resiliency is to utilise digital trade facilitation (DTF).

This policy brief explores the role of DTF, or the application of digital tools to facilitate trade, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the possible ways that DTF could help promote stronger and more resilient value chains, and identifies the key elements as well as policy approaches that policymakers could consider to successfully implement such digital solutions.