According to Amac News: Based on the Secretariat, this report addresses key trade policy considerations related to this technology and discusses the critical role of the WTO in facilitating AI-related trade, ensuring trustworthy AI, and promoting global regulatory convergence.
The report, titled “Trading with Intelligence: How AI Shapes and is Shaped by International Trade,” explores how AI can reduce trade costs, reshape trade in services, increase trade in AI-related goods and services, and redefine economies' comparative advantages.
It also highlights the increasing fragmentation of approaches to AI regulation, which may have particular implications for trade opportunities for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
The report argues that AI can help overcome trade costs associated with logistics, supply chain management, and regulatory compliance. By lowering trade costs, AI can level the playing field for developing economies and small businesses, enabling them to overcome trade barriers, enter global markets, and participate in international trade.
The report estimates that in an optimistic scenario of universal AI adoption and high productivity growth by 2040, global real trade growth could increase by nearly 14 percent.
It notes that AI can transform patterns of trade in services, especially digital services, which are projected to see cumulative growth of nearly 18 percent in an optimistic scenario of universal AI adoption and high productivity growth.
However, the report warns of the significant risk of a growing AI divide between economies and between large and small firms, particularly regarding data governance challenges and the need to ensure AI trustworthiness. There is also a need to clarify how AI relates to intellectual property (IP) rights.