India just signed a trade deal with the European Union that astonished the whole world. After twenty years of continuous negotiations, this deal is being hailed as “the mother of all deals”. But the factors that affect such deals are large in numbers, geopolitical tensions constantly affect the global and local economies in ways that are beyond our comprehension. To make everyone’s life easier, Why Politicians Lie About Trade…explains how international trade in goods and services actually works and the compromises and concessions nations must make to take part in this $32 trillion-a-year jamboree: the greatest commercial show on earth.
Daily we can see the fruits of international trade on display on the shelves of shops, from American oranges to Chinese mobile phones to Kenyan coffee. But hidden from view is the geopolitical wiring that allows global cross-border trade to make it all happen: a network of treaties, tariffs, taxes and disputes that is remote and unintelligible to most people. Until now. To bridge the gap between the known and unknown, The Bombay Circle Press brings you a comprehensively written non-fiction title by Dmitry Grozoubinski who is a former Australian trade negotiator and diplomat, now based in Geneva where he serves as the Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform and founder of the consultancy ExplainTrade. He has negotiated complex agreements in Geneva at the World Trade Organization (WTO), at UN Ministerial Conferences in Kenya, and as part of the MH17 taskforce in Kyiv, Ukraine. Before joining the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dmitry was an academic at the Monash Graduate School of Business, and with the Australian trade consultancy TradeWorthy. He is now a trade consultant and visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde’s School of Law. Dmitry holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Melbourne and a Masters of Diplomacy and Trade from the Graduate School of Business at Monash University.
With clear, often humorous writing and case studies, former trade negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski takes readers through the intricacies and surprises of global commerce. He reveals the underlying political and geographical forces that shape trade policy and our everyday lives. He spells out the impact of trade treaties on topics such as food, jobs, gender conflict and climate. And he reveals what politicians cover-up about the system—and why it matters. A companion to books such as How to Lie With Statistics, Why Politicians Lie About Trade illuminates a much misunderstood and underestimated network that is vital to our modern interconnected world. With the US-China trade deal, Brexit, and other disputes regularly hitting the headlines (and sometimes our nerves), grasping how trade actually works has never been more important.
What others are saying about this book:
‘For 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.’
— Justin Brown, the Lowy Institute
‘An absolute masterclass in how to communicate complex information simply and compellingly. You will come out of it far more knowledgeable than you went in, and shielded from some of the more egregious deceit politicians want to inflict on you. You’ll also laugh out loud.’
— Ian Dunt, author of How Westminster Works
‘Enraging & enlightening in equal measure. And the measure is absolutely enormous.’
— James O’Brien, author of How They Broke Britain