30 Jun 2025
At the National Committee (NC) Strategic Session held during We are ICC Week 2025, ICC unveiled its most ambitious initiative in recent years: Project Phoenix. Introduced by ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton following a high-level panel with Shinta Kamdani, Arancha González, and Andrew Wilson, the launch framed ICC’s response to deepening geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Project Phoenix is more than a campaign—it's a whole-of-organization effort to address rising trade tensions, stabilize global commerce, and co-create the future of a rules-based international trading system with business at the centre.
Why Project Phoenix?
Global trade is under visible strain. Escalating protectionism, fragmented regulatory environments, and weakened multilateral institutions have left businesses navigating an unpredictable and costly trade landscape.
Project Phoenix was designed to respond to this challenge—with business, not just as a stakeholder, but as a driving force behind practical solutions and renewed international cooperation.
Three Strategic Pillars
De-escalation ICC is actively leveraging its convening power and media voice to discourage unilateral trade measures and defend core WTO principles such as Most-Favoured Nation treatment. Outreach campaigns are already underway targeting the G7, BRICS, RCEP and major regional blocs.
Stabilisation ICC will mobilize its suite of practical trade tools—including Incoterms®, ATA Carnets, the Digital Standards Initiative, and the Centre of Entrepreneurship—to help businesses reduce compliance burdens, access new markets, and weather trade volatility.
Revitalisation Through structured global consultations, ICC will develop a flagship Position Paper for WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14, Yaoundé, 2026). Topics will include subsidies, currency misalignments, green industrial policy, and reform of the dispute settlement system.
A Network-Led Approach
Phoenix will be guided by a global Advisory Committee, comprising ten ICC Executive Board members and ten external business leaders from every region.
But its success depends on the active engagement of national committees, chambers, and companies across the ICC network—helping to anchor the initiative in local realities and broaden its impact.
As John Denton noted:
“This is not about saving institutions—it’s about saving opportunity.”
🔍 Next Steps & How Members Can Engage
ICC will roll out a suite of Phoenix-branded toolkits, talking points, and engagement guides in July 2025. In the meantime, members are invited to:
Nominate experts and business leaders to contribute to Phoenix consultations on issues such as industrial subsidies, digital trade, green industrial policy, and dispute resolution reform. These insights will feed directly into ICC’s MC14 paper.
Identify trade tensions or bottlenecks in their jurisdiction. ICC is collecting concrete case studies to support targeted advocacy and capacity-building.
Participate to local awareness events or dialogues.
Amplify ICC’s global messaging, especially in the lead-up to the G7, WTO, UNGA, and BRICS summits.
Support Phoenix Advisory Group formation by proposing business figures who can champion reform and represent Dutch business in global discussions.
Conclusion
Project Phoenix is already in motion—now it’s time to bring it to life across the ICC network. Dutch businesses, policymakers, and institutions have a critical role to play in co-shaping a more stable, inclusive, and opportunity-rich trade future.