How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
Description
Description
Two top trade experts with popular economics podcasts argue for a new way of operating between the biggest economic powers in the world. We used to take trade for granted. No more. Everything we know about trade has changed. With Trump's tariffs throwing everything up in the air, this is the book to explain the eruption. As we enter this new era of trade conflict, we need a new way of operating between the biggest economic powers in the world. Trade experts Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown argue that now that the rules of the game have been abandoned, we need a different strategy. Yearning for the old approach to start working again isn't an option. Ultimately, the authors argue that a Western system that protects market-oriented democracies from China's one will require the embrace of some uniquely Chinese tools. If we want to avoid a war with guns, drones, and battles, then we need to understand these weapons better in How to Win a Trade War. The authors give a tour of products and supply chains, from metals to sushi, and the impact of trade--and trade disruptions--on workers and consumers. They follow a lipstick with plastic casing manufactured in China, filled in Mexico, and then shipped to Canada after stopping off at a Texan warehouse. They trace an electronics supply chain from silicon sourced in the Appalachian Mountains, to "wafers" made in Japan, to chips made in Taiwan using equipment made in the Netherlands, to smartphones assembled in China and sent to America. They speculate what all-out economic warfare might look like. What if the world's key shipping lanes got blocked? Or satellite communication went down? What about export restrictions cutting off supplies of key products? Tariffs could be the least of our problems. This timely and accessible book helps readers understand how they, their company, and their country fit into the story at this precarious moment for the global economy.
About the Author
About the Author
Soumaya Keynes is an economics columnist at the Financial Times and host of the podcast The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes. Before joining the Financial Times in July 2023, she spent eight years at The Economist, where she won an award from the Association of Business Journalists for her commentary on the first Trump administration's trade policy. She cofounded the Trade Talks podcast during the Trump administration's first term and cohosted The Economist's Money Talks podcast. She started her career as an economist working at the UK Treasury and then as a researcher at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. She has an undergraduate degree and masters in economics from the University of Cambridge. Chad Bown is the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and host of the Trade Talks podcast. He has performed public service in two US administrations, as Chief Economist at the Department of State in the Biden-Harris administration and as Senior Economist in the White House on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors. He has also been on the research staff at the World Bank and World Trade Organization, and was on the faculty at Brandeis University for twelve years and was a tenured professor of economics. He received a BA magna cum laude in economics and international relations from Bucknell University and a PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
""Easily digestible." --Kirkus Reviews "Who knew that trade policy could be fun? Soumaya Keynes and Chad P. Bown take a subject usually weighed down by a deadly combination of economese and legalese and turn it into a breezy romp, without dumbing it down at all. They even offer some novel policy guidance for a transformed world. An amazing book." --Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate in economics "Practical, forward-looking, and full of insight, this book is crucial reading for anyone trying to make sense of today's trade disputes." --Chris Miller, author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology "Timely, witty, and wise--you could not ask for a better guide to the new economic order." --Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers "Trade wars are here to stay, whether we like it or not. Soumaya Keynes and Chad P. Bown have written the guide we all need to this vitally important topic." --Tyler Cowen, coauthor of Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Winners, and Creatives Around the World "Storms are battering global trade, and there are no better navigators through these choppy waters than this intrepid duo. A sharp-witted exposition of how global trade has created both prosperity and new points of vulnerability, this bracing book is for anyone trying to understand how states wish--perhaps to their peril--to refashion national economies." --Dan Wang, author of Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future "Finally I understand what Donald Trump is on about. Well, some of the time." --Helen Lewis, author of The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea "Trade wars are not supposed to be fun, but this book is. An entertaining and enlightening guide to the fractious global economy, How to Win a Trade War is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the economics and the politics that are shaping the twenty-first century." --Duncan Weldon, author of Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict from the Vikings to the Modern Era
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster
Pub date:
2026-05-26
Length:
288 pages
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