Trade Facilitation Still Has a Role in Global Trade, Panelists Say

"If you don't have the end user of the rule involved in the process of developing the regulations, the rules ... will end up missing the mark," Picard said. "So, it's absolutely critical to engage business in the rulemaking process for customs processes and border processes. It's absolutely possible to co-design and to work with business to design rules and procedures that meet policy objectives." Examples of such public-private partnerships include the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation and efforts to align digital trade standards to reduce the interoperability costs across borders, according to Picard.

A number of trends in global trade are surfacing and accelerating "at a dizzying pace," making trade facilitation essential, she said. They include a fragmentation of trade measures where countries are taking diverging approaches to border regulation, resulting in a patchwork of conflicting and overlapping requirements that are increasingly complex and more costly to comply with, according to Picard.

Another trend is an "unprecedented speed" in the rollout of regulation implementation, "leaving businesses very little time to adapt to rules that once took years to phase in" and had longer consultation periods, she continued. This change of pace greatly raises the risk for businesses to fall into non-compliance, she said.

A third trend is the elevated stakes for compliance, Picard said. "Today, the surge in tariffs has fundamentally raised the importance of accurate trade documentation. It's always been important, of course -- I'm not suggesting otherwise -- but what's happened now is that some of the paperwork that might have been sort of considered routine has taken on strategic importance," such as the tightened compliance around the rules of origin, she said.

The challenge that large corporations, as well as small and medium-sized businesses must grapple with is being able to capture data that not only meets trade requirements but also shows companies' adherence to environmental regulations, such as those of the European Union, according to Lars Karisson, global head of trade consulting for Maersk.

"Data is the new currency, the new gold in the bank. You need to treat it like gold in the bank," Karisson said. "So you need to own your own customs and trade data and then find partners that can manage it for you."

Karisson said Maersk has been working with governments to use trade data and create an offering that works like a passport that customs and border agencies can use to fast-track through borders.

"Trade compliance is becoming the new license to play," Karisson said. The issue is whether challenges can be transformed into opportunities, he continued.

What could also help companies is a better sense of where trade is heading globally, according to Picard.

"I think what's really worrying us today is the weakening of the rules-based system that underlines all of this. And so what we're really concerned about is that weakening of the global trading system, because ultimately that is putting additional pressure on the borders and on the traders," Picard said.

She continued, "a corollary to that, I would just add as well, is also the lack of focus on a forward-looking trade agenda. We're no longer talking about fully implementing the trade facilitation agreement, which we should be. ... I would like to go back to a forward-looking trade agenda and not having to reaffirm the basic principles."