Why Politicians Lie About Trade: . and What You Need to Know About It

FT Recommended Book on the Global Trade War

'It succeeds both in explaining how global trade works and how it affects things many voters actually care about' – Financial Times

'My hero on this is Dmitry Grozoubinski, who has written the most beautiful book' – author Rory Stewart

Why Politicians Lie About Trade – and What You Need to Know About It is your clear, witty crash‑course in how global trade really works – and how leaders weaponise it to win votes, wage culture wars and spin economic fairy tales.

Written by former trade negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski, this smart, highly readable book explains trade policy in a post-truth era.

No graphs, no jargon, just sharp stories, plain English and a built‑in “bullshit detector” for every grand promise about tariffs, trade deals and jobs.

What this book shows you

Across two parts – How Trade Works and Trade and the Things You Actually Care About – you’ll discover:

• How modern trade policy works in practice – from goods trade and services trade to customs unions, single markets, free trade agreements (FTAs), trade facilitation and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• Why protectionism is so tempting – and how tariffs, quotas, sanctions, trade embargoes and “keeping out foreign junk” are sold as painless fixes, even when they quietly destroy jobs, growth and innovation.
• What “trading on WTO terms” really means – and why it’s usually code for accepting the bare‑minimum market access on the same terms as the country your partners trust least.
• How trade agreements are really negotiated – secrecy, leaks, horse‑trading, rules of origin, regulatory standards, dispute settlement and why no deal is ever truly “win‑win for everyone”.
• Trade and jobs – how trade policy is endlessly blamed or praised for employment figures, how politicians on all sides massage the numbers, and why press releases about “hundreds of thousands of jobs created” should make you sceptical.
• Trade and national security, climate change and peace – from sanctions and export controls to green trade rules, economic interdependence and “trade for peace”.

Along the way, Grozoubinski dissects Trump, Brexit, trade wars, culture‑war soundbites, populist protectionism and media myths that turn complex tradeoffs into easy slogans.

If you’re tired of being dazzled by big numbers, empty promises and scary headlines about tariffs, trade wars and globalisation, this book hands you the tools to push back – calmly, confidently and with the facts on your side.

Learn how global trade really works – before the next “world‑changing” trade deal hits the headlines.

Reviews

'Despite being an entertaining read, this 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.' Felix Martin, Financial Times

'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

'Written by a former trade negotiator who has trained many British diplomats, this book is authoritative, yet – and here’s the strange part – actually fun to read. Dmitry Grozoubinski has a rare knack for explaining complex information in an accessible and light-hearted way.' Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics

'Enraging & enlightening in equal measure. And the measure is absolutely enormous.' James O'Brien, How They Broke Britain

Recommended by The Rest is Politics podcast

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."