Dmitry Grozoubinski is a negotiations and trade policy expert known for his superpower: an ability to explain the complexities of trade and economics.A former Australian trade negotiator and current Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform in Switzerland, he has trained hundreds of government negotiators, civil servants and corporate officers all over the world in how trade policy works, how trade agreements are negotiated, and how those on the outside can shape their outcomes.Dmitry has appeared on TV multiple times, is a frequent guest on radio and podcasts, and has been extensively quoted in agenda-setting media from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to Time Magazine and the Economist. Prior to launching his own consultancy, Dmitry represented Australia at the World Trade Organization on such issues as agriculture, trade facilitation, women’s economic empowerment and economic development. He negotiated for Australia at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference and the 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development quadrennial.Dmitry built his consultancy off the back of explaining trade issues and especially the trade implications of Brexit on Twitter, where his account is perhaps the most followed of any trade expert in the world.Since being appointed the first Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform, he has helped guide the organization into a position of prominence within the trade landscape. The Platform has hosted the key policy addresses of the United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Vladis Dombrovskis, as well as speeches by Nobel Peace Prize winners, the WTO Director-General and dozens of Ambassadors.Commentators have welcomed his first book, Why Politicians Lie About Trade (Canbury), as an entertaining and informative introduction to international trade. The Financial Times called it "great", while the Lowy Institute in Australia hailed its "wry and sometimes mischievous sense of humour." In his review, Justin Brown of the Lowy Institute wrote: "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."

Grozoubinski’s book is billed as a layperson’s guidebook to international trade policy, and to navigating politicians’ prevarications about it. Grozoubinski is well qualified on both counts. As a former government trade official, he is an experienced guide to how trade policy is actually made. As a current trainer of trade negotiators, he is a skilful communicator of a complex subject. As an Australian, he writes refreshingly bluntly about a notoriously turgid field: he states his aim, for example, as furnishing his readers with “a functioning bullshit detector”.Despite being an entertaining read, however, 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.Felix Martin, Financial Times, 16th July 2024

• Chapter 1: I’m Sorry You Have to Care 9Part 1: How Trade Works 19Chapter 2: Why is Trade Policy? 21Chapter 3: What is Trade Policy? 45Chapter 4: Trade’s Policy Drivers 51Chapter 5: Goods Trade 59Chapter 6: Services Trade 85Chapter 7: Free Trade Agreements 101Chapter 8: Trade Negotiation Secrecy 125Chapter 9: The World Trade Organization 133Chapter 10: Trade Integration: Customs Unions 153Chapter 11: Trade Integration: Regulations and Single Markets 165Part 2: Trade and the Things You May Actually Care About 177Chapter 12: Trade and Jobs 179Chapter 13: Trade and National Security 195Chapter 14: Trade and Climate Change 215Chapter 15: Trade and Peace 239Chapter 16: Trade and Investor State Dispute Settlement 251Chapter 17: Trade and More 257Conclusion 277Index 281Acknowledgements 297About the Author 301

Dmitry Grozoubinski is a negotiations and trade policy expert known for his superpower: an ability to explain the complexities of trade and economics.A former Australian trade negotiator and current Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform in Switzerland, he has trained hundreds of government negotiators, civil servants and corporate officers all over the world in how trade policy works, how trade agreements are negotiated, and how those on the outside can shape their outcomes.Dmitry has appeared on TV multiple times, is a frequent guest on radio and podcasts, and has been extensively quoted in agenda-setting media from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to Time Magazine and the Economist. Prior to launching his own consultancy, Dmitry represented Australia at the World Trade Organization on such issues as agriculture, trade facilitation, women’s economic empowerment and economic development. He negotiated for Australia at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference and the 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development quadrennial.Dmitry built his consultancy off the back of explaining trade issues and especially the trade implications of Brexit on Twitter, where his account is perhaps the most followed of any trade expert in the world.Since being appointed the first Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform, he has helped guide the organization into a position of prominence within the trade landscape. The Platform has hosted the key policy addresses of the United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Vladis Dombrovskis, as well as speeches by Nobel Peace Prize winners, the WTO Director-General and dozens of Ambassadors.Commentators have welcomed his first book, Why Politicians Lie About Trade (Canbury), as an entertaining and informative introduction to international trade. The Financial Times called it "great", while the Lowy Institute in Australia hailed its "wry and sometimes mischievous sense of humour." In his review, Justin Brown of the Lowy Institute wrote: "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."

Grozoubinski’s book is billed as a layperson’s guidebook to international trade policy, and to navigating politicians’ prevarications about it. Grozoubinski is well qualified on both counts. As a former government trade official, he is an experienced guide to how trade policy is actually made. As a current trainer of trade negotiators, he is a skilful communicator of a complex subject. As an Australian, he writes refreshingly bluntly about a notoriously turgid field: he states his aim, for example, as furnishing his readers with “a functioning bullshit detector”.Despite being an entertaining read, however, 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.Felix Martin, Financial Times, 16th July 2024

• Chapter 1: I’m Sorry You Have to Care 9Part 1: How Trade Works 19Chapter 2: Why is Trade Policy? 21Chapter 3: What is Trade Policy? 45Chapter 4: Trade’s Policy Drivers 51Chapter 5: Goods Trade 59Chapter 6: Services Trade 85Chapter 7: Free Trade Agreements 101Chapter 8: Trade Negotiation Secrecy 125Chapter 9: The World Trade Organization 133Chapter 10: Trade Integration: Customs Unions 153Chapter 11: Trade Integration: Regulations and Single Markets 165Part 2: Trade and the Things You May Actually Care About 177Chapter 12: Trade and Jobs 179Chapter 13: Trade and National Security 195Chapter 14: Trade and Climate Change 215Chapter 15: Trade and Peace 239Chapter 16: Trade and Investor State Dispute Settlement 251Chapter 17: Trade and More 257Conclusion 277Index 281Acknowledgements 297About the Author 301

Dmitry Grozoubinski is a negotiations and trade policy expert known for his superpower: an ability to explain the complexities of trade and economics.A former Australian trade negotiator and current Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform in Switzerland, he has trained hundreds of government negotiators, civil servants and corporate officers all over the world in how trade policy works, how trade agreements are negotiated, and how those on the outside can shape their outcomes.Dmitry has appeared on TV multiple times, is a frequent guest on radio and podcasts, and has been extensively quoted in agenda-setting media from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to Time Magazine and the Economist. Prior to launching his own consultancy, Dmitry represented Australia at the World Trade Organization on such issues as agriculture, trade facilitation, women’s economic empowerment and economic development. He negotiated for Australia at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference and the 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development quadrennial.Dmitry built his consultancy off the back of explaining trade issues and especially the trade implications of Brexit on Twitter, where his account is perhaps the most followed of any trade expert in the world.Since being appointed the first Executive Director of the Geneva Trade Platform, he has helped guide the organization into a position of prominence within the trade landscape. The Platform has hosted the key policy addresses of the United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Vladis Dombrovskis, as well as speeches by Nobel Peace Prize winners, the WTO Director-General and dozens of Ambassadors.Commentators have welcomed his first book, Why Politicians Lie About Trade (Canbury), as an entertaining and informative introduction to international trade. The Financial Times called it "great", while the Lowy Institute in Australia hailed its "wry and sometimes mischievous sense of humour." In his review, Justin Brown of the Lowy Institute wrote: "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."

Grozoubinski’s book is billed as a layperson’s guidebook to international trade policy, and to navigating politicians’ prevarications about it. Grozoubinski is well qualified on both counts. As a former government trade official, he is an experienced guide to how trade policy is actually made. As a current trainer of trade negotiators, he is a skilful communicator of a complex subject. As an Australian, he writes refreshingly bluntly about a notoriously turgid field: he states his aim, for example, as furnishing his readers with “a functioning bullshit detector”.Despite being an entertaining read, however, 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.Felix Martin, Financial Times, 16th July 2024

• Chapter 1: I’m Sorry You Have to Care 9Part 1: How Trade Works 19Chapter 2: Why is Trade Policy? 21Chapter 3: What is Trade Policy? 45Chapter 4: Trade’s Policy Drivers 51Chapter 5: Goods Trade 59Chapter 6: Services Trade 85Chapter 7: Free Trade Agreements 101Chapter 8: Trade Negotiation Secrecy 125Chapter 9: The World Trade Organization 133Chapter 10: Trade Integration: Customs Unions 153Chapter 11: Trade Integration: Regulations and Single Markets 165Part 2: Trade and the Things You May Actually Care About 177Chapter 12: Trade and Jobs 179Chapter 13: Trade and National Security 195Chapter 14: Trade and Climate Change 215Chapter 15: Trade and Peace 239Chapter 16: Trade and Investor State Dispute Settlement 251Chapter 17: Trade and More 257Conclusion 277Index 281Acknowledgements 297About the Author 301