IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 270 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 
should negotiate strong, inclusive, and forward-looking rules on digital 
trade and the digital economy with like-minded countries as part of 
its broader trade and economic strategy in order to ensure American 
values of democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, human and worker 
rights, privacy, and a free and open internet are at the very core 
of digital governance. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 30, 2023 
Mr. LAHOOD (for himself, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, and Mr. 
BERA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States should negotiate strong, inclusive, and 
forward-looking rules on digital trade and the digital 
economy with like-minded countries as part of its broader 
trade and economic strategy in order to ensure American 
values of democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, 
human and worker rights, privacy, and a free and open 
internet are at the very core of digital governance. 
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•HRES 270 IH 
Whereas over half of the world’s population, totaling more 
than 5,000,000,000 people, use the internet; 
Whereas the ‘‘digital economy’’ encompasses the economic 
and social activity from billions of online connections 
among people, businesses, devices, and data as a result 
of the internet, mobile technology, and the internet of 
things; 
Whereas the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis 
found that the digital economy contributed 10.2 percent 
of United States gross domestic product and supported 
7,800,000 American jobs in 2020; 
Whereas the tech-commerce ecosystem added 1,400,000 jobs 
between 2017 and 2021, and served as the main job-cre-
ating sector in 40 States; 
Whereas American jobs supported by the digital economy 
have sustained annual wage growth at a rate of 5.9 per-
cent since 2010, as compared to a 4.2-percent increase 
for all jobs; 
Whereas, in 2020, United States exports of digital services 
surpassed $520,000,000,000, accounting for more than 
half of all United States services exports and generating 
a United States digital services trade surplus of 
$214,000,000,000; 
Whereas digital trade bolsters the digital economy by ena-
bling the sale of goods on the internet and the supply of 
online services across borders, and depends on the free 
flow of data across borders to promote commerce, manu-
facturing, and innovation; 
Whereas digital trade has become increasingly vital to Amer-
ican workers and businesses of all sizes, including the 
countless small- and medium-sized enterprises that use 
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digital technology, data flows, and e-commerce to export 
goods and services across the world; 
Whereas digital trade has advanced entrepreneurship oppor-
tunities for women, people of color, and individuals from 
otherwise underrepresented backgrounds, and enabled the 
formation of innovative startups; 
Whereas international supply chains are becoming increas-
ingly digitized and data driven, and businesses in a vari-
ety of industries, such as construction, health care, trans-
portation, and aerospace, invested heavily in digital sup-
ply chain technologies in 2020; 
Whereas United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai 
said that ‘‘there is no bright line separating digital trade 
from the digital economy—or the traditional economy for 
that matter. Nearly every aspect of our economy has been 
digitized to some degree.’’; 
Whereas industries outside of the traditional technology sec-
tor, such as manufacturing and agriculture, are inte-
grating digital technology into their businesses in order 
to increase efficiency, improve safety, reach new cus-
tomers, and remain globally competitive; 
Whereas the increasing reliance on digital technologies has 
modernized legacy processes, accelerated workflows, in-
creased access to information and services, and strength-
ened security in a variety of industries, leading to better 
health, environmental, and safety outcomes; 
Whereas the coronavirus pandemic has led to increased up-
take and reliance on digital technologies, data flows, and 
e-commerce; 
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Whereas 90 percent of United States adults say that the 
internet has been essential or important for them person-
ally during the coronavirus outbreak; 
Whereas American families, workers, and business owners 
have seen how vital access to the internet has been to 
daily life, as work, education, medicine, and communica-
tion with family and friends have shifted increasingly on-
line; 
Whereas many individuals and families, especially in rural 
and Tribal communities, struggle to participate in the 
digital economy due to lack of access to a reliable and af-
fordable internet connection; 
Whereas new developments in technology must be deployed 
with consideration to the unique access challenges of 
rural, urban, underserved, and vulnerable communities; 
Whereas digital trade has the power to help level the playing 
field and uplift those in traditionally unrepresented or 
underrepresented communities; 
Whereas countries have negotiated international rules gov-
erning digital trade in various bilateral and plurilateral 
agreements, but those rules remain fragmented, and no 
multilateral agreement on digital trade exists within the 
World Trade Organization; 
Whereas a patchwork of plurilateral digital trade agreements 
in the Indo-Pacific region have emerged, creating a set 
of rules on digital governance to which the United States 
is not a party; 
Whereas Congress recognizes the need for agreements on dig-
ital trade, as indicated by its support for a robust digital 
trade chapter in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agree-
ment; 
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Whereas other countries are operating under their own digital 
rules, some of which are contrary to democratic values 
shared by the United States and many of its allies and 
partners; 
Whereas these countries are attempting to advance their own 
digital rules on a global scale; 
Whereas certain practices, such as overly restrictive data lo-
calization requirements and limitations on cross border 
data flows that do not achieve legitimate public policy ob-
jectives, intellectual property rights infringement, policies 
which make market access contingent on forced tech-
nology transfers or voluntary transfers subject to coercive 
terms, web filtering, economic espionage, cybercrime ex-
posure, and state-directed theft of trade secrets, are just 
some examples of the plethora of nontariff barriers to 
digital trade that have emerged around the globe; 
Whereas certain countries are pursuing or have implemented 
digital policies that unfairly discriminate against innova-
tive United States technology companies and American 
workers that create and deliver digital products and serv-
ices; 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is currently 
advancing a model for digital governance and the digital 
economy domestically and abroad through its Digital Silk 
Road Initiative that permits censorship, surveillance, 
human and worker rights abuses, forced technology 
transfers, and data flow restrictions at the expense of 
human and worker rights, privacy, the free flow of data, 
and an open internet; 
Whereas the Department of State’s 2020 Country Reports on 
Human Rights Practices highlighted significant human 
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rights issues committed by the PRC in the digital realm, 
including ‘‘arbitrary interference with privacy; pervasive 
and intrusive technical surveillance and monitoring; seri-
ous restrictions on free expression, the press, and the 
internet, including physical attacks on and criminal pros-
ecution of journalists, lawyers, writers, bloggers, dis-
sidents, petitioners, and others as well as their family 
members, and censorship and site blocking’’; 
Whereas 
the 
United 
States 
discourages 
digital 
authoritarianism, including practices that undermine 
human and worker rights and result in other social and 
economic coercion; 
Whereas United States allies and trading partners in the 
Indo-Pacific region have urged the United States to deep-
en economic engagement in the region by negotiating 
rules on digital trade and technology standards; 
Whereas the digital economy has provided new opportunities 
for economic development, entrepreneurship, and growth 
in developing countries around the world; 
Whereas negotiating strong digital trade principles and com-
mitments with allies and partners across the globe en-
ables the United States to unite like-minded economies 
around common standards and ensure that principles of 
democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, human and 
worker rights, privacy, and a free and open internet are 
at the very core of digital governance; 
Whereas United States leadership and substantive engage-
ment is necessary to ensure that global digital rules re-
flect American values so that workers are treated fairly, 
small businesses can compete and win in the global econ-
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omy, and consumers are guaranteed the right to privacy 
and security; 
Whereas the United States supports rules that reduce digital 
trade barriers, promote free expression and the free flow 
of information, enhance privacy protections, protect sen-
sitive information, defend human and worker rights, pro-
hibit forced technology transfer, and promote digitally en-
abled commerce; and 
Whereas the United States supports efforts to cooperate with 
allies and trading partners to mitigate the risks of 
cyberattacks, address potentially illegal or deceptive busi-
ness activities online, promote financial inclusion and dig-
ital workforce skills, and develop rules to govern the use 
of artificial intelligence and other emerging and future 
technologies: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the United States should negotiate strong, 
inclusive, forward-looking, and enforceable rules on 
digital trade and the digital economy with like-mind-
ed countries as part of its broader trade and eco-
nomic strategy to address digital barriers and ensure 
American values of democracy, rule of law, freedom 
of speech, human and worker rights, privacy, and a 
free and open internet are at the very core of the 
digital world and advanced technology; 
(2) in doing so, the United States must— 
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(A) pursue digital trade rules that serve 
the best interests of workers, consumers, and 
small- and medium-sized enterprises; 
(B) empower American workers; 
(C) fuel wage growth; 
(D) take actions that lead to materially 
positive economic outcomes for all Americans; 
(E) ensure that any future agreement pre-
vents against nondemocratic, coercive, or overly 
restrictive policies that would harm the ability 
for a free and open internet and e-commerce 
marketplace to continue to grow and thrive; 
(F) coordinate sufficient trade-related as-
sistance to ensure that developing countries can 
improve their capacity and benefit from in-
creased digital trade; and 
(G) consult closely with all relevant stake-
holders, including workers, consumers, small- 
and medium-sized enterprises, civil society 
groups, and human rights advocates; and 
(3) with respect to any negotiations of an 
agreement facilitating digital trade, the United 
States Trade Representative and other relevant Fed-
eral departments and agencies must consult closely 
and on a timely basis with the Committee on Ways 
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and Means of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Finance of the Senate about the sub-
stance of such negotiations and the requisite legal 
authority to bind the United States to any agree-
ment, keep both committees fully apprised of those 
negotiations, and provide to those committees, in-
cluding staff with appropriate security clearances, 
adequate access to the text of the negotiating pro-
posal of the United States before tabling the pro-
posal in the negotiation. 
Æ 
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