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Why Politicians Lie About Trade

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What to expect

FT Recommended Book on the Global Trade War

'It succeeds both in explaining how global trade works and how it affects things many voters actually care about'  – Financial Times

Why Politicians Lie About Trade – and What You Need to Know About It is your clear, witty crash‑course in  how global trade really works – and how leaders weaponise it to win votes, wage culture wars and spin economic fairy tales.

Written by former trade negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski, this smart, highly readable book explains trade policy, not trade economics – no graphs, no jargon, just sharp stories, plain English and a built‑in "bullshit detector" for every grand promise about tariffs, trade deals and jobs.

What this book shows you

Across two parts –  How Trade Works and  Trade and the Things You Actually Care About – you'll discover:

  • How modern trade policy works in practice – from goods trade and services trade to customs unions, single markets, free trade agreements (FTAs), trade facilitation and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
  • Why protectionism is so tempting – and how tariffs, quotas, sanctions, trade embargoes and "keeping out foreign junk" are sold as painless fixes, even when they quietly destroy jobs, growth and innovation.
  • What "trading on WTO terms" really means – and why it's usually code for accepting the bare‑minimum market access on the same terms as the country your partners trust least.
  • How trade agreements are really negotiated – secrecy, leaks, horse‑trading, rules of origin, regulatory standards, dispute settlement and why no deal is ever truly "win‑win for everyone".
  • Trade and jobs – how trade policy is endlessly blamed or praised for employment figures, how politicians on all sides massage the numbers, and why press releases about "hundreds of thousands of jobs created" should make you sceptical.
  • Trade and national security, climate change and peace – from sanctions and export controls to green trade rules, economic interdependence and "trade for peace".

Along the way, Grozoubinski dissects Trump, Brexit, trade wars, culture‑war soundbites, populist protectionism and media myths that turn complex tradeoffs into easy slogans.

Why Politicians Lie About Trade is designed for non‑specialists who want to understand:

  • International trade, trade policy and globalisation/globalization without a degree in economics.
  • How tariffs, trade deals, customs unions, single markets, the WTO and trade wars actually affect jobs, prices, supply chains, national security and climate policy.
  • How to spot when politicians, lobbyists or commentators are lying or oversimplifying about trade, free trade agreements, "sovereignty" and "cutting red tape at the border".

If you're tired of being dazzled by big numbers, empty promises and scary headlines about tariffs, trade wars and globalisation, this book hands you the tools to push back – calmly, confidently and with the facts on your side.

Recommended by the FT and The Rest is Politics podcast

Critics Review

SUMMARYnThe bottom line is that this book is good at what it sets out to do. It is an accessible account of the trade policy world with no howlers and with a very amusing turn of phrase. Grozoubinski – a former negotiator turned educator and commentator – is a good communicator and the one liners and outrageous analogies should help to keep the non-expert engaged and even, possibly, remembering some of the arguments. The book is not written for the regular readers of this journal but for their friends in the 'real world'. Inevitably writing for this audience requires selectivity and simplification and most professionals would quibble in places – certainly most academics would, because that is the way their minds work. But overall, it does the job pretty well.
Cambridge University Press
SUMMARYnDespite being an entertaining read, his book is no joke. Structured in two parts, it succeeds both in explaining how global trade works and in illustrating how the rather rarefied topic of international trade policy affects things many voters actually care about: jobs, national security, climate change, and so on. Given how protectionism is increasingly touted as a simple solution to complex social and economic strains, it is also excellently timed.
Financial Times
SUMMARYnFor some time, there has been a clear gap in the market for a guide to trade policy to help those with an interest to gain a better understanding of this important field and enable them to engage more actively in trade policy debates. Dmitry Grozoubinski's Why Politicians Lie About Trade fits the bill admirably.nMuch of the book's strength lies in its language. It largely avoids technical and academic-style terminology, and the content is presented with a wry and sometimes mischievous sense of humour. This approach makes even the most arcane and obscure parts of the book engaging.
Lowy Institute
Author Dmitry Grozoubinski
Narrator Christopher Tester
Duration 8 hours and 33 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781914487132
Format Audiobook
Publisher Canbury Press Ltd
Genre Geopolitics, International trade and commerce
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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