EU and South Korea deepen ties with digital pact to bolster trade

The European Union and South Korea signed a digital trade agreement on Wednesday designed to make digital transactions easier and further cement economic ties between the partners at their first summit in three years.



The digital trade deal and other cooperation agreed at the summit, such as on exchanging classified security information and passenger name records, are part of both sides' push to forge new alliances and deepen existing ones at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, including U.S. tariffs, Chinese export curbs and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.



The digital agreement, supplementing a free-trade accord that entered force in 2011, is designed to ease cross-border data flows, recognise electronic contracts and electronic signatures and sets rules on consumer protection.



It should also reduce costs for businesses, boosting services trade. The EU is South Korea's third-largest partner in goods trade, while Korea is the eighth-largest partner for the EU.