The 2026 ICC Open Market Index: what the G7 tells us about the trading environment Dutch business operates in

ICC has published the first update to its Open Market Index since 2017. Released ahead of the G7 Leaders' Summit, it measures how open the world's largest economies are to trade and investment across five components. The findings have real implications for internationally active Dutch companies.

On 12 June 2026, ahead of the G7 Leaders' Summit, ICC published the 2026 edition of its Open Market Index (OMI), the first since 2017. Commissioned by ICC under the Global Trade and Investment Commission, the OMI is a composite measure of how open economies are to international trade and investment, built on five components: observed trade openness (25%), trade policy regime (30%), openness to foreign direct investment (15%), digitally delivered services trade (15%), and trade policy volatility and drift (15%). Two of these components (digitally delivered services trade, and trade policy volatility) have no counterpart in the 2017 edition and reflect the most consequential shifts in the trade landscape over the past decade.

This first release applies the framework to the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States), which together account for roughly one third of global trade. Coverage will progressively expand in future editions to become an ICC flagship publication covering more countries.

The Netherlands is not among the seven economies covered. But for a country whose foreign trade equals roughly 165% of GDP, and whose companies rely on the openness of these seven markets more than most, the findings speak directly to daily business decisions.

The headline: open in aggregate, but uneven in practice

The 2026 OMI shows a clear gap between the G7's top and bottom performers on openness. Canada ranks first overall, while the United States ranks last. Part of the US position is explained by the size of the US domestic market, which dampens trade-to-GDP ratios, but recent discriminatory trade measures have also weighed on US trade values.

Across the group, the G7 performs relatively well on digital services trade and formal trade policy openness. It performs weakest on trade policy volatility and drift, highlighting increasing unpredictability in trade-related interventions. As the report puts it, the differences across countries are often less about formal rules and more about how policy is applied and how frequently it changes. The result is a system that is "open in aggregate, but uneven in practice," with policy stability emerging as a decisive factor for investment and trade integration.

What the results say for Dutch business

Three findings stand out.

Germany leads observed trade openness (5.69), with the United Kingdom close behind (5.52). For Dutch exporters, this confirms what supply-chain data already shows: the two trading relationships most central to Dutch commerce remain structurally very open.

The United States is a striking outlier on trade policy volatility. It scores 1.00 out of 6, the lowest in the G7. Monthly volatility of US trade policy interventions in 2024 and 2025 was 18 to 49 times higher than any other G7 economy. The US adopted close to 75,000 more restrictive measures in 2025 than in 2015. Its effectively applied tariff rate is 13.5%, compared with 0.6 to 2.6% across the rest of the G7. For Dutch companies with US-facing supply chains, the OMI puts numbers on what has already been felt in boardrooms.

Digitally delivered services trade is the strongest area of G7 openness, led by Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. This confirms the direction of travel for Dutch service exporters and digital businesses. It also carries a warning. The WTO e-commerce Moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions expired at MC14 in March 2026 for the first time in its history. Twenty-three countries, all G7 members among them, have committed to maintain the practice among themselves, but only a permanent multilateral solution gives digital businesses the legal certainty they need.

Seven policy priorities that align with ICC Netherlands' work

The OMI closes with seven priorities for governments seeking to sustain open trade and investment. They map directly onto the advocacy ICC Netherlands is doing on behalf of Dutch business.

1. Reduce trade policy volatility through stronger multilateral disciplines and improved transparency.

2. Liberalise services trade beyond existing GATS commitments. Ambitious liberalisation could cut services trade costs by an average of 13% in OECD economies, and by up to 22 to 31% in major emerging markets.

3. Facilitate foreign direct investment flows through clearer rules and faster procedures.

4. Keep markets open for cross-border data flows and resist data localisation used as industrial policy.

5. Convert the WTO e-commerce Moratorium into a permanent one.

6. Fully implement the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. Remaining gains could reduce global trade costs by more than 11%.

7. Move forward urgently on WTO reform. The share of global merchandise trade covered by most-favoured-nation rules has fallen to 72%.

Read alongside the Cost of Uncertainty

The OMI is best read alongside the ICC Cost of Uncertainty on Investment report, published in April 2026 with Oxford Economics. That report put a US$202 billion price tag on lost or delayed business investment across ten major economies in 2025, with a US$630 billion swing at stake in 2026. The OMI now shows where the volatility is coming from.

For Dutch business, the takeaway is practical: the markets that matter most to Dutch commerce remain open in structure, but the policy environment around them is more turbulent than it has been for years. The 2026 OMI gives that turbulence a measurable form.

Read our interview on the ICC Open Market Index 2026 → The price of not knowing | ICC WBO Netherlands