Trade allows us to sell what we produce at home and purchase what we don't. It lowers prices and gives us greater variety and innovation. Yet understanding our place in the global trade network is rarely so simple. Trade has become an easy excuse for struggling economies, a scapegoat for our failures to adapt to a changing world, and--for many Americans on both the right and the left--nothing short of a four-letter word. But as Fred P. Hochberg reminds us, trade is easier to understand than we commonly think. Hochberg unravels the mysteries of trade by pulling back the curtain on six everyday products, each with a surprising story to tell: the taco salad, the Honda Odyssey, the banana, the iPhone, the college degree, and the smash hit HBO series Game of Thrones. Behind these six examples are stories that help explain not only how trade has shaped our lives so far but also how we can use trade to build a better future for our own families, for America, and for the world.
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