Global digital integration is desirable and perhaps even inevitable for most States. However, there is currently no systematic framework or narrative to drive such integration in trade agreements. This article evaluates whether community values can offer a normative foundation for rules governing digital trade. It uses the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol as a case study and argues that identifying and solidifying the collective needs of the African region through this instrument will be key to shaping an inclusive and holistic regional framework. These arguments are substantiated by analysis of the regulation of cross-border data flows, privacy and cybersecurity.

The subject of this analysis is the role that regional trade agreements (RTAs) play in balancing between personal data commodification and protection of privacy and personal data, approached from the perspective of Karl Polanyi’s theory of double movement. We analyse provisions on cross-border information transfers and data protection in order to establish the models for balancing between the ideas of personal data commodification and social protection, understood as allowing for the use of measures that ensure privacy and personal data protection. Our analysis indicates that there are two general models concerning the liberalization of cross-border information transfers: one model restricts states’ ability to restrict data flows while the other is more open to such measures. Next, we identify three primary models governing how data protection is treated in the agreements that liberalize data flows: one that is based on the inclusion of substantive standards of protection in the content of the given agreement; one that uses international standards as a proxy for establishing certain level of protection; and one that is based on national data protection laws. Combining identified models of liberalizing data flows with identified models of ensuring data protection allows us to show that the inclusion of seemingly similar provisions on cross-border data transfers in various RTAs has resulted in developing several different models for balancing between commodification of personal data and data protection.

Cross-border data flow is essential to contemporary international trade. However, transitioning from paper to digital in international trade has benefits and concerns. Concerns have led to an upsurge in data regulation as nations and regions impose restrictions on data flows and storage. This paper argues that, with increasing concerns about data sovereignty, the reconciliation of differing positions will be necessary to ensure that the benefits of digitization can be realized equally. At present, the objective of “data free flow with trust” is aspirational at best, with emerging trade barriers that unfairly threaten opportunities for small to medium enterprises and development within the Global South. This paper supports new knowledge and demonstrates that discriminatory regulation of data flow and disproportionately prioritizing national interests will be a trade barrier that impacts private entities and consumers in all nations. To avoid unintended externalities, cooperation is needed at a global level.