I got home last night from the WTO Public Forum in Geneva — two fascinating days of discussion about the future of global trade. Here are my takeaways:

  1. Transparency is more critical than ever. Several speakers and panels cited the challenge of keeping up with fast-changing trade rules, and the importance of transparency — simply knowing the rules companies are supposed to play by.
  2. SMEs face the steepest challenge. While multinationals can field big legal teams, smaller companies struggle to keep up with the pace of change. This theme came up again and again, with speakers sounding the alarm that smaller companies are suffering.
  3. AI is already in the conversation. Almost every panel I attended focused, directly or indirectly, on the role of AI in global trade. There’s no question that AI will be critical to facilitating global trade — it already is.

Overall, the Forum confirmed what I have been hearing from friends and former colleagues, and reading in every publication I can find: we are in a new era in which global trade rules are more complex, more fragmented, and more dynamic than ever — and new approaches are urgently needed to help small and mid-sized companies stay competitive.

I came away inspired, with new ideas and connections. I look forward to contributing to this conversation as it develops.