The earliest traces of trade manifested in the Bronze Age, specifically present-day Georgia, when wine was traded as a commodity amongst the elite and common households, used for religious rituals, and its consumption considered a democratised practice. Centuries passed, and trade was still largely centered around critical input factors of production - goods including wine, amber, spices and silk that not only served as symbols of wealth, but essential resources that fueled the development of economies, crafts and societal development - overall highlighting the close ties of trade to the fundamental production needs of early civilisations. Traded goods have since evolved from input materials to consumer goods, as seen in the 19th century with the invention and rapid development of the bicycle, with key manufacturing countries (including France, Germany and the U.S.) exporting to numerous other nations. In the present day, trade has gone beyond tangible items to lines of code behind screens, given the higher adoption of technologies and online spaces as parts of digitalisation, and subsequently reduced the associated costs of trade as a whole. This is supported by the OECD's May 2023 Trade Policy Paper, which noted a 0.3 per cent reduction in domestic trade costs and a 0.1 per cent reduction in international trade costs with every 1 per cent in digital connectivity. Akin to the second wave of international trade that saw the reduction of transportation (ocean and air freight) and communication (transatlantic phone) costs helping to facilitate global trade, digitalisation plays the same role in propelling conventional trade volumes, though excluding 2019 and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Components of digital trade range from platforms facilitating the exchange of goods and services online to digitally delivered services such as cloud computing and software. Increased accessibility of these digital products and services signifies a new wave of connectivity, and coupled with the role of data as a traded commodity, it further highlights risks of safety, fairness and ethics. With that, it poses the question of how stakeholders, specifically businesses and governments, can ensure digital stewardship amongst these emerging and pressing concerns.As digital stewardship revolves around the care and management of digital objects, addressing all phases of their life cycle, stakeholders must then actively uphold core values of transparency, inclusivity and accountability at all times. While there is a strong case for domestic regulatory reform due to its potentially significant payoffs, with estimates by the OECD suggesting that a 0.1 point reduction in the domestic Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (DSTRI) is correlated with an increase in total exports of 145 per cent - the enforcement of such digital regulations plays a critical role in protecting the multiple actors involved in transactions, and mitigate risks arising from asymmetric information that are mostly faced by consumers.Governments must focus on the sweet spot of domestic regulations that ensure the protection of stakeholders while preventing the grave disruptions of digital trade flows, striking a balance between both aspects. The most direct manner to do so is through cross-border data flow policies for the reasons of protecting digital rights and sovereignty, while ensuring accessibility for regulatory authorities to access this data and perform their duties to ensure national security. An instance would be the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which restricts the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EU unless they provide an adequate level of data protection, ultimately striving to protect consumers in the digital space and holding greater control over personal information and its handling. In this case, rather than viewing the GDPR as a protectionist measure towards digital trade, it could be seen as a foundational step towards ethical and responsible digital stewardship. Setting high requirements for data protection levels in countries outside the EU sets pressure on their governments and firms to enhance their own data governance standards and build consumer trust in their digital platforms. Such regulation would foster long-term sustainability in digital trade by prioritising user safety and digital rights over short-term gains. However, as a result of its protective nature, posing a sense of regulatory rigor may raise various concerns surrounding accessibility - especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that struggle to comply due to a lack of resources and complex requirements (as compared to large companies that have the means to cope with such stringent conditions). Investing in various data protection software may be costly for these firms, and as such, regulations may therefore widen this digital divide. Digital stewardship not only touches on safety, but also the accessibility that all enterprises should strive for and achieve. On one hand, ensuring secure and ethical digital frameworks could be emphasised by various regulations such as the GDPR, but the above-mentioned challenges faced by SMEs also highlight the importance of ensuring inclusivity in digital trade.By bridging the gap between protection and accessibility, it is highly recommended for governments and major software enterprises to collaborate and blend their technical and regulatory expertise, all for the greater goal of embodying digital stewardship in digital trade. Large tech firms that offer platforms and protection software required for compliance could lower barriers to entry for affected SMEs, developing affordable or open-source security and compliance solutions to assist them in meeting regulatory standards while being financially sustainable. In the meantime, governments must enable and support these SMEs in the form of grants and professional support - examples being Enterprise Singapore's Productivity Solutions Grant that offers both and Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority's Data Protection Essentials (DPE) initiative providing support for SMEs to adopt data protection solutions and cyber security practices.Various companies have taken it up a notch and embodied several values of the steward leadership model, which are interdependence, long-term view, ownership mentality and creative resilience. One notable example includes Mastercard's involvement in Les Digiteurs, a partnership between the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) and several organisations to assist SMEs with digital transformation and compliance, through their cybersecurity awareness training programme that also consisted of webinars and access to a cyber risk self-diagnostic tool. While creating sustained value for current and future SMEs to come, and taking proactive action to create a positive impact, this programme allows Mastercard to not only help smaller players but also create future opportunities for paid services, partnerships and increased usage of their platforms as SMEs become more digitally engaged. In the grand scheme, the evolution of international trade shifting to digital landscapes and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence further emphasises the importance of digital stewardship to uphold responsibility and accessibility for all players in markets. Using it as a framework ensures an active strategy for enterprises to be codependent pillars of fair and safe digital trade, ensuring a balance between equitable access for smaller businesses and the safeguarding and handling of information. Perhaps these complications may seem inconsequential relative to a more advanced future, but to ensure that digital trade remains inclusive and resilient, governments and businesses must proactively manage these growing pains.