How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy

Two top trade experts with popular economics podcasts argue for a new way of operating between the biggest economic powers in the world.

We used to take trade for granted. No more.

Everything we know about trade has changed. With Trump's tariffs throwing everything up in the air, this is the book to explain the eruption. As we enter this new era of trade conflict, we need a new way of operating between the biggest economic powers in the world. Trade experts Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown argue that now that the rules of the game have been abandoned, we need a different strategy. Yearning for the old approach to start working again isn't an option. Ultimately, the authors argue that a Western system that protects market-oriented democracies from China's one will require the embrace of some uniquely Chinese tools. If we want to avoid a war with guns, drones, and battles, then we need to understand these weapons better in How to Win a Trade War.

The authors give a tour of products and supply chains, from metals to sushi, and the impact of trade--and trade disruptions--on workers and consumers. They follow a lipstick with plastic casing manufactured in China, filled in Mexico, and then shipped to Canada after stopping off at a Texan warehouse. They trace an electronics supply chain from silicon sourced in the Appalachian Mountains, to "wafers" made in Japan, to chips made in Taiwan using equipment made in the Netherlands, to smartphones assembled in China and sent to America.

They speculate what all-out economic warfare might look like. What if the world's key shipping lanes got blocked? Or satellite communication went down? What about export restrictions cutting off supplies of key products? Tariffs could be the least of our problems.

This timely and accessible book helps readers understand how they, their company, and their country fit into the story at this precarious moment for the global economy.

Author: Soumaya Keynes,Chad P. Bown
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 05/26/2026
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.96lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.23w x 1.04d
ISBN: 9781668221310


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2026

About the Author
Soumaya Keynes is an economics columnist at the Financial Times and host of the podcast The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes. Before joining the Financial Times in July 2023, she spent eight years at The Economist, where she won an award from the Association of Business Journalists for her commentary on the first Trump administration's trade policy. She cofounded the Trade Talks podcast during the Trump administration's first term and cohosted The Economist's Money Talks podcast. She started her career as an economist working at the UK Treasury and then as a researcher at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. She has an undergraduate degree and masters in economics from the University of Cambridge.

Chad Bown is the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and host of the Trade Talks podcast. He has performed public service in two US administrations, as Chief Economist at the Department of State in the Biden-Harris administration and as Senior Economist in the White House on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors. He has also been on the research staff at the World Bank and World Trade Organization, and was on the faculty at Brandeis University for twelve years and was a tenured professor of economics. He received a BA magna cum laude in economics and international relations from Bucknell University and a PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.