In our latest quarterly issue: Governments make meaningful progress toward enacting MLETR-aligned legislation recognizing eBLs and other negotiable title documents; guidance on leveraging AI to boost global trade and enhance market access; assessing the impact of recent tariffs & trade policies on trade finance demand; innovative digital solutions transforming physical energy cargo deliveries — plus much more! + SUBSCRIBE

Industry News & Views

AI to boost trade by nearly 40% by 2040 if gaps are bridged, World Trade Report 2025 finds: Recent WTO report explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping global trade, highlighting AI’s potential to boost economic growth and calling for inclusive strategies to ensure benefits for trade participants of all shapes and sizes (source: WTO).

France’s ‘reliable system’ decree wins praise but sparks fear of industry fragmentation: Trade finance fintechs welcome the French decree setting out how to take advantage of its new digital trade law — giving eTitle docs (e.g. eBLs) the same legal standing as paper — though warn its “reliable platform” approach could create misalignment with global standards and confuse SMEs (source: GTR).

An insight into India’s newly revised Merchant Shipping Act: Exploring how the Act, which also includes provisions on digital bills of lading, marks a major reform for India’s maritime sector — but its transformative impact hinges on pending government notifications to bring these provisions into force (source: Shipping and Freight Resource).

Harmonised AI standards to reduce fragmented global rules: ICC policy paper highlights how divergent AI regulations across countries can lead to fragmented global markets and increased costs, calling for greater coordination towards developing global, market-driven AI standards that bridge legal & compliance burdens and improve market access (source: ICC WBO).

The digitalisation of trade documents and processes – Going paperless today, going paperless tomorrow: Findings from a recent OECD paper reveal that a 10% improvement in automating border procedures, combined with streamlined documentation and stronger co-operation among border agencies, could boost global goods exports by up to 18% (source: OECD).

Draft UN Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents to modernize and digitize global trade finalized: New UNCITRAL draft convention addresses a legal gap in international trade by establishing a harmonized legal framework for multimodal negotiable title documents, i.e. across all modes of transport (namely: air, road, rail, and sea) (source: UN IS Vienna).

ICC Netherlands calls on Dutch Parliament to accelerate adoption of MLETR: The industry body — alongside a coalition of corporates, banks and business associations — recently presented a whitepaper to Parliament calling for swift MLETR adoption in order to 'cut costs, reduce delays and strengthen the Netherlands’ competitive position' (source: ICC Netherlands).

Mauritius enacts electronic Bill of Exchange law, first African country to adopt MLETR: With the island country off the southeastern coast of Africa becoming the continent's first nation to grant electronic bills of exchange (eBoE) the same legal status as paper (source: Trade Treasury Payments).

Digitalising Global Trade – A roadmap to interoperability and trust at scale: Recent report outlines the key technical building blocks needed to transform today's fragmented trade landscape into a connected digital ecosystem — with a focus on interoperability and digital trust, which, according to the ICC DSI, are the two essential pillars for operationalizing digital trade at scale (source: ICC DSI).

Trade uncertainty drives demand for finance, political risk insurance: Rising uncertainty over US tariffs and broader US trade policy has driven greater demand for finance, caused inventory levels to spike and pushed more multinationals towards political risk insurance, industry research shows (source: GTR).

Maritime trade under pressure – growth set to stall in 2025: According to UNCTAD's recently released Review of Maritime Transport, maritime trade is expected to slow to just 0.5% growth in 2025 (cf. 2.2% growth in 2024), citing geopolitical tensions and trade route disruptions as key causes (source: UNCTAD).

To defend USD trade dominance, the strongest U.S. oil benchmarks must be prioritized: Jeff Barbuto, SVP, ICE Oil Markets, argues that by recommending oil benchmarks that reflect market fundamentals — such as ICE Midland WTI — the US Energy Dominance Council could help defend the status of the USD as the global reserve currency (source: Oil & Gas Journal).

ICE Digital Trade News

Revolutionizing ICE Futures Deliveries with DT4: A new solution that transforms physical Futures Delivery workflows, bringing efficiency, transparency, and control to a traditionally analog process. Built for ICE Clear Europe Clearing Members and their clients, DT4 digitizes every step of the delivery process, starting with Murban Crude Oil and Low Sulphur Gasoil contracts.

Leading European Oil Company Goes Live on ICE Digital Trade for Energy (DT4): Digitizing its ship-shore operations, bunker deliveries & cargo documents at a flagship refinery. With 30 minutes saved per shipment, DT4 is streamlining some of the most time-intensive workflows in energy logistics and setting a new benchmark for vessel turnaround time.

ICE Digital Trade in Numbers