WHY POLITICIANS LIE ABOUT TRADE

WHY POLITICIANS LIE ABOUT TRADEBy Dmitry Grozoubinski – Canbury Press 2024If you ask why you should take the time to learn about International Trade, Dmitry Grozoubinski tells you: “the fact that important people keep lying to us about it proves its importance.”He makes no secret of the fact that International Trade is hard to understand; as glutinous and opaque as a silica blancmange. But in this book he spoons it towards our mouths with humour and makes it easy to swallow.The danger of trade is that although we think the detail is boring, any TV vox pop proves that we all think we have a gut instinct for trade. As Grozoubinski says this leaves us open to “confidently spouted rubbish disguised as plain spoken common sense.” Politicians exploit the counter-intuitive nature of trade to skewer us like pike on a hook. In public debate we have also lost, “the art of condensing complexity into punchy soundbites…or crafting an accessible analogy that resonates.” In this handy book he aims to give us the basic knowledge to determine whether politicians really know what they’re talking about because, “A trade minister…choosing not to learn the basics before spouting off untruths is just as wilfully deceiving the public as if they learned and then said the opposite.”The aim of the book is to explain where trade policy comes from and how it actually works, and then look at how it affects our life in such areas as job creation and national security. Trade Policy, Goods Trade, Free Trade Agreements. Grozoubinski takes us through them all is a straightforward but amusing way. He warns us that the World Trade Organisation is “important in the manner of the Universal Postal Union: what it does is vital…but you’re probably safe ignoring it most of the time.” But then he goes on to demolish the lies that are put forward about the WTO. He calls International Trade negotiations, ‘Boring Things We Do In The Shadows', explaining that boring things are easy to lie about because nobody takes the time to understand them. He navigates through the difference between the Tariff code for chocolate slabs with 43% cocoa butter and chocolate slabs with 13% cocoa butter, and explains the risk of shipping across borders where mistaking Tariff code 2095 for 210 could mean costs, delays and the risk of significant fines or confiscation of your cargo. Having laid out the facts, Grozoubinski also admits that there are no right and wrong answers. “Declaring that there are simple answers is easy in an academic classroom…but far harder in a town hall full of worried families staring at a jobless future.” There is no decisive evidence. With Brexit, it is hard to say whether or not it was worth it but ,“the difficulties UK traders face at the borders are certainly evidence of the disruption that can be caused by leaving a customs union.”The book serves a wider purpose because its lessons illustrate more than International Trade. “Politicians best tell lies and half-truths when reality is confusing or counter-intuitive. Where ‘common sense’ suggests the world faces one way , when it actually faces the other. This is not a phenomenon unique to trade. When discussing the national budget , politicians calling for cuts love nothing more than to liken the government to a family that must live within its means. Anyone familiar with how government finances actually work will tell you this analogy is easily understood…and completely wrong. Yet politicians persist in evoking it year after year precisely because it sounds correct.”“Why Politicians Lie” might have been a snappier title.