The Impact of Digital Economy on International Trade: Transformations, Challenges and Future Paths

数字经济的全球化扩张正在深刻重塑国际贸易的技术基础与政策框架。研究表明，人工智能、区块链等数字技术通过降低交易成本、优化供应链管理以及拓展市场边界，显著提升了贸易效率并激活新兴业态。与此同时，数据跨境流动创造的价值已占全球服务贸易的52%，但其引发的数字鸿沟与跨境规则分歧日益凸显。当前，数字贸易壁垒呈现隐蔽化特征，如数据本地化政策与数字税争议，导致全球规则碎片化。为应对挑战，需构建“技术–政策–治理”协同创新路径，包括推动新型基础设施互联互通、建立数据分级分类跨境机制与多边治理平台(如DEPA框架)，并通过“监管沙盒”等实践平衡创新激励与风险控制。最终，实现数字经济与国际贸易的深度融合，需在效率提升与公平保障间寻求动态平衡，以塑造更具包容性的全球贸易新秩序。The global expansion of the digital economy is profoundly reshaping the technological foundation and institutional framework of international trade. Research indicates that digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and block chain have significantly enhanced trade efficiency and activated new business models by reducing transaction costs, optimizing supply chain management, and expanding market boundaries. Meanwhile, the value created by cross-border data flows now accounts for 52% of global service trade, but the digital divide and sovereignty conflicts it triggers are becoming increasingly prominent. Currently, digital trade barriers are characterized by their covert nature, such as data localization policies and digital tax disputes, leading to the fragmentation of global rules. To address these challenges, a collaborative innovation path of “technology-institution-governance” needs to be constructed, including promoting the interconnection of new infrastructure, establishing a cross-border data classification and grading mechanism, and building multilateral governance platforms (such as the DEPA framework), as well as balancing innovation incentives and risk control through practices like “regulatory sandboxes”. Ultimately, achieving the deep integration of the digital economy and international trade requires seeking a dynamic balance between efficiency improvement and fairness protection to shape a more inclusive global trade order.