The Internet has become an importan

The Internet has become an important element of modern economic infrastructure,fundamentally changing how people interact; how consumers shop; how products andservices are designed, developed, marketed, and delivered; and how businesses operateand interact with one another. Digital trade—commerce in products and servicesdelivered via the Internet—is increasing as a direct result of the widespread use of theInternet and Internet-based technologies. The increase in digital trade is having asignificant impact on the U.S. and global economies. In this report, digital trade refersboth to U.S. domestic commercial activity and to international trade in products andservices delivered via the Internet.Digital trade is a challenging topic for study. There is no standard or generally accepteddefinition for “digital trade.” Moreover, there are significant shortcomings in theavailable data related to the value of digital trade, and information on data flows (anotherpossible way to measure digital trade) is only beginning to be collected. This report willaddress these issues as it outlines U.S. and global digital trade activities.This is the first of two reports prepared by the U.S. International Trade Commission(Commission) on digital trade. The second report, Digital Trade in the U.S. and GlobalEconomies, Part 2 (hereafter Digital Trade 2), will be completed in July 2014. Keyfindings from this investigation and an overview of report highlights follow below