Global Trade in the Age of AI: Bridging the Divide

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala emphasized that AI’s growth is inseparable from international cooperation, noting that semiconductors often traverse multiple borders for design, manufacturing, and assembly. This interdependence means that current trade frameworks, established before the rise of large language models, face pressure to evolve. The objective is to foster policy coherence that allows for innovation while maintaining predictable, stable environments for global businesses.

For emerging economies, the technology offers a pathway to bypass traditional industrial scaling. Ministers from nations including El Salvador, Jamaica, and Singapore argued that AI can enhance everything from trade negotiation strategies to service exports. El Salvador is already using these tools to assess sectoral impacts, while Jamaica aims to leverage AI to boost its workforce and attract high-value logistics investments.

Industry experts, such as Sakana AI co-founder Ren Ito, proposed an 'AI Sovereignty Index' to help nations map their dependencies and identify vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, the WTO is curating a new database of practical applications, ranging from autonomous supply chain management to AI-optimized coffee production, to demonstrate that the benefits of the current boom need not be confined to the world’s largest economic powers.