Rulemaking in digital trade is proceeding apace. Many preferential trade agreements contain dedicated e-commerce or digital trade chapters and some states have entered into stand-alone digital economy agreements. This article seeks to establish whether, and to what extent, normative change is occurring in digital trade agreements, the nature of any changes, and identify which states are acting as norm entrepreneurs. We employ a new method of legal coding, systematically comparing the nature and prescriptiveness of digital provisions in 12 trade agreements concluded between 2019 and 2023. We find evidence of substantial policy innovation, and identify Singapore as the key norm entrepreneur. A new wave of ‘Singapore-led’ agreements substantially expands the scope of digital trade, to cover areas such as digital identities, e-invoicing and e-payments, the governance of AI, and regulation of new digital technologies. Commitments are typically couched as soft rather than hard law, reflecting the nascent stages of rulemaking. Norm entrepreneurship on the part of Singapore and its allies reflects a desire to position themselves as ‘digital hubs’ in the global economy, spur rulemaking in areas where innovation is ahead of regulation, and promote digital interconnectivity at time of regulatory divergence and geopolitical rivalry.

数字贸易的规则制定正在快速推进。许多优惠贸易协定都包含专门的电子商务或数字贸易章节，一些州已经签订了独立的数字经济协议。本文旨在确定数字贸易协定中是否发生了规范性变化以及在多大程度上发生了变化，任何变化的性质，并确定了哪些国家正在充当规范企业家。我们采用了一种新的法律编码方法，系统地比较了 2019 年至 2023 年间达成的 12 项贸易协定中数字条款的性质和规定性。我们发现了实质性政策创新的证据，并将新加坡确定为关键的规范企业家。新一轮“新加坡主导”协议大幅扩展了数字贸易的范围，涵盖数字身份、电子发票和电子支付、人工智能治理以及新数字技术监管等领域。承诺通常以软法而非硬法的形式表述，反映了规则制定的初期阶段。新加坡及其盟国的规范创业反映了将自己定位为全球经济“数字中心”的愿望，刺激创新领先于监管领域的规则制定，并在监管分歧和地缘政治竞争时期促进数字互联。