Trade connects every economy on earth. Use these questions to discuss who wins and who loses from globalization — and how understanding trade gives you an edge in any international career.
Who benefits most from free trade — wealthy developed countries, developing nations, or both? Is free trade genuinely free, or are the rules written to favor those who already have power?
Try to use: comparative advantage, trade liberalization, protectionism, level playing field, WTO
If a government puts tariffs on imported goods to protect local jobs, who actually pays for those tariffs — the foreign country, the importing company, or the domestic consumer?
Try to use: import tariff, trade barrier, pass-through cost, consumer price, retaliation
How has globalization changed your own life or career in three specific ways? Would your current job exist without it?
Try to use: global supply chain, outsourcing, labor market, international competition, opportunity
China has become the world's largest trading nation. What does this shift in economic power mean for the global balance of influence over the next 20 years?
Try to use: economic dominance, Belt and Road, trade surplus, geopolitical leverage, strategic industry
Should countries try to be economically self-sufficient — producing everything they need domestically — or is deep global interdependence always better? What did COVID-19 teach us about supply chain risk?
Try to use: supply chain resilience, nearshoring, strategic reserves, dependency, onshoring
A country runs a trade surplus — it exports more than it imports. Is this always good? Can a large surplus create problems — for the country itself or for its trading partners?
Try to use: trade surplus, currency appreciation, global imbalance, domestic consumption, Germany, China