Why trade matters, especially to the US in election year

© Braden Gunem

Jonathan Gold is the US’s National Retail Federation’s vice president for supply chain and customs policy and has used this blog as a platform to explain what benefits international trade brings to the US. The entire concept of trade and its position in the US economy has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months as the presidential election gathers pace. Some of the leading candidates – principally Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders – have taken positions that would appear to be diametrically opposed to the business practices of many of the country’s leading businesses as well as ignoring the realities of the American economy in 2016. “Candidates from both parties have talked about trade as a net negative issue during debates and campaign speeches. This near-constant demonisation is dangerous and fails to recognise the importance of free trade — and imports in particular — to the US economy.”