A.I. Fueled More Resilient Global Growth, W.T.O. Says

The W.T.O. cautioned that the resilience was not uniform, and that some regions and sectors had been hit harder by the Middle Eastern war.

Robert Staiger, the organization’s chief economist, said that the conflict had taken a significant toll on trade particularly within the Middle East. The quantity of crude oil exported by the Middle East was down 24 percent in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, while exports of liquefied natural gas were down 47 percent.

But global trading systems have helped many countries weather the shock, he said. Countries outside the region increased production and exports of energy and fertilizer to compensate for the loss of supply.

Trade in goods that enable A.I. also grew an astonishing 67 percent in the first half of 2026, accounting for about half of the increase in the value of the global trade in goods in the period.

In 2026, global trade was “shaped by two opposing forces: a Middle East conflict affecting services as much as goods, and an exceptionally strong wave of investment in A.I. infrastructure,” Mr. Staiger said. “So far, the second force has outweighed the first.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/business/economy/wto-global-trade-resilient.html