In the context of increasing fragmentation in global digital trade rules, this paper examines the impact of digital services trade barriers on China’s manufacturing export product quality. Using Chinese product–destination–year export data from 2014–2023, combined with the OECD Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index and input–output tables, this study constructs a country–industry-level measure of digital services trade barriers. The results show that digital services trade barriers significantly reduce export product quality. The findings remain robust after instrumental variable estimation, alternative measurements, and higher-dimensional fixed effects. Furthermore, institutional quality mitigates this negative effect. This study highlights digital services trade barriers as an important institutional factor affecting manufacturing export quality upgrading.