We used to take trade for granted. Trillions of dollars of goods and services crossed borders each year. Nobody paid too much attention: it just worked.

Now, surging oil prices can hit your mortgage. Trump’s latest tariff announcement can crash markets and ruin your pension. Brexit can sever Britain from its closest trading partners. Chinese restrictions can bring the West’s car production to a crashing halt. Curbs on trade in cutting-edge chips could determine who wins the AI race. The stakes couldn't be higher.

Join authors Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown, in conversation with Professor Emily Jones, as they discuss their new book How To Win a Trade War: A Friendly Guide to an Unfriendly World.

In this irreverent guide, Keynes and Bown explore the history, players, and rules of trade, asking how we prepare for what the future might hold. Could trade wars lead to hot wars? What can the West learn from China? How should countries defend their economies?

Timely, funny and informative, How to Win a Trade War argues that the old system is dead. But what will emerge in its place? And ultimately, what is at stake for you, your country, and your company?

The event is followed by a drinks reception.

Speaker biographies

Soumaya Keynes is a columnist at the Financial Times and host of their hit podcast, The Economics Show. Previously, she spent eight years at The Economist. During this time, she also co-founded the popular Trade Talks podcast with Chad Bown.

Chad Bown is Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and hosts the Trade Talks podcast. He formerly served as Chief Economist at the US Department of State in the Biden-Harris administration and as Senior Economist in the White House on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Emily Jones is Professor of Practice in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government. Emily is an expert in the political economy of global trade. She is co-founder and co-director of the Trade and Public Policy (TaPP) Network, which seeks to foster engagement between academics and UK policymakers.