Digital trade issues have always been a hot topic, but recent developments have demonstrated to policymakers and industry stakeholders alike that small businesses need strong digital trade protections to flourish. Parag Shah, founder of ACT |The App Association member company Vēmos, and Taylor Downs, federal policy manager for the App Association, recently participated in a panel discussion hosted by Nathan Lindfors, policy director for Engine, to highlight small business issues in digital trade.
Recap
The discussion, which also included Angela Hooks, senior public policy and advocacy manager at Etsy, focused on key decisions by the U.S. Trade Representative to pull back its support for foundational digital trade policies. Panelists highlighted that opposition to protectionist policies like data localization mandates and forced source code transfer is necessary to ensure small businesses can compete in a global economy. As Parag noted, “It’s next to impossible to expect localized data in every country you’re doing business in. Even if it were possible, having data segmented that way creates a horrible user experience. It’s impossible to get [small businesses] to do that, let alone afford it.” Angela concurred, offering that even companies the size of Etsy would struggle to comply with such policies.
Parag also underscored the crucial need for accessible, high-quality data to ensure that small businesses can compete on a global scale without the setback of biased technologies: “In relation to the hot topic of AI [artificial intelligence] … if you don’t have a good data set, you’re building AI products with a TON of bias. That’s a dangerous product. If we want to lead in AI, we need to have robust, free-flowing data sets.”
The panel also pushed back on the idea that strong free trade positions are not compatible with actions the United States is taking to protect data privacy at home. “I think it’s a false choice,” Taylor said. “Fighting for small businesses in trade negotiations does not preclude important work like passing a comprehensive national privacy law.”
Moving Forward
We’re excited to participate alongside our members as they continue to push boundaries to empower small businesses through the development of technology and participation in these discussions. You can check out more on the panel hereor here!