WTO Director-General: AI drove 42% of 2025
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stated that AI and trade growth are intertwined, with 42% of last year's global goods trade expansion linked to
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has declared that artificial intelligence and trade growth are now advancing hand in hand. She revealed that global goods trade volume expanded by 4.6% last year, with an estimated 42% of that growth originating from trade in AI-related products.
Over 600 people attended the inaugural WTO World Trade & Tech Day in person, with a similar number registered to follow the event online. The Director-General welcomed the high level of interest, noting the event's goal was to translate AI's potential into tangible trade and economic gains.
AI as the backbone of trade
"The AI revolution promises to transform the way we trade, by lowering trade costs and enhancing productivity growth, particularly in services," Okonjo-Iweala said. She argued that trade itself is fundamental to the AI value chain, enabling everything from cross-border data flows to the movement of critical minerals.
She provided a concrete example of this interdependence. "Semiconductors are designed in one country, fabricated in another; packaged and tested elsewhere; assembled into servers in a fourth country, and deployed in data centres worldwide. No trade, no compute," the Director-General stated.
The existing rulebook for AI trade
The WTO chief pointed to several key WTO agreements that currently underpin AI development and deployment. She identified these agreements as pillars, though she noted they were developed long before the rise of AI and large language models.
Okonjo-Iweala expressed hope that the day's dialogues would help shape new, coherent policies and regulatory frameworks across borders.
Optimism from small economies
A ministerial dialogue featured leaders from several smaller economies who sounded an optimistic note about AI's potential. They highlighted how the technology could help their countries become more productive and compete globally, especially in services.
Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, said in pre-recorded remarks that AI will shape the next phase of global economic growth. "If we each do our part well, AI will not become the privilege of the few." she stated.
Iceland's Minister of Industries, Hanna Katrn Fririksson, emphasized the need for collective action to ensure broad benefits, referencing her country's AI strategy which considers ethical and security issues. El Salvador's Minister of Economy, Mara Luisa Hayem, noted AI is already supporting her country's trade negotiations by assessing impacts on different economic sectors.
Jamaica's Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn Hill, stated that AI offers his country an opportunity to attract investment and expand high-value services and logistics in a tech-driven global economy.
Business perspectives on AI's economic role
The event also included contributions from business leaders. Ren Ito, Co-Founder and Chairman of Sakana AI, described AI as becoming the "decision layer" of the global economy. He noted the rise of autonomous agents managing supply chains and AI-to-AI transactions, with systems making procurement and logistics decisions autonomously.
Ito encouraged the WTO to develop an "AI Sovereignty Index" to help the international community track AI diffusion and identify risks like over-reliance on single national models.
William Li, Founder and CEO of NIO, shared perspectives from China's electric vehicle market. He discussed how AI is reshaping automotive products, competition, and global value chains, and highlighted the role of international standards and regulatory coordination in build trustworthy innovation.
From policy to practical case studies
Beyond the main dialogues, the WTO hosted five deep-dive policy sessions. Topics ranged from enabling low-income countries to participate in the AI value chain to how intellectual property and AI are improving worldwide coffee production.
In a practical demonstration, twelve organizations including customs agencies shared real-world case studies of AI in trade facilitation. These examples are included in a new WTO database of trade-related AI use cases.
Concluding the event, WTO Deputy Director-General Johanna Hill acknowledged it is still early to grasp all of AI's implications for trade. She stressed that the choices made today will have lasting consequences for economic opportunity and inclusiveness.
