Post by Beru Lilako

Great provocation — the “next trade war” is already being sketched in code, not tariffs. Digital trade agreements (and the standards they embed) will shape market access, trust, and who wins value capture in AI, fintech, and data-driven services. For #Africa and other emerging regions the opportunity is clear: invest in interoperable data governance, digital identity, payments rails, and skills—then pair those with regional agreements (like #AfCFTA digital protocol) to scale. That’s how leapfrogging becomes durable, not temporary. Are our policymakers aligning investment, regulation, and capacity-building to seize that window — or running behind the architecture being written today? Craig Atkinson, Martina F. Ferracane, Mira Burri, Chloe Teevan, Sasha Pearson, María Vásquez Callo-Müller