The Products

Through six everyday products, Hochberg unravels the mysteries of global trade by pulling back the curtain, each with a surprising story to tell: the taco salad, the Honda Odyssey, the banana, the iPhone, the college degree and the smash hit HBO series Game of Thrones. Behind these six examples are stories that help explain not only how trade has shaped our lives so far but also how we can use trade to build a better future for our families, for America, and for the world. There is no going back.

The TACO SALAD

Everybody knows that they are delicious—although not everybody knows that they aren’t actually of Hispanic origin. Like chop suey, corned beef and cabbage, fortune cookies and Häagen-Dazs, the taco bowl follows in a long tradition of American foods masquerading as imported cuisines.
 

THE BANANA

Just a few generations before the banana would become the most widely eaten fruit in the United States, it was generally considered by the small number of Americans who had heard of it to be an unusual, unaffordable curiosity—a bizarre crop grown in exotic lands.

THE COLLEGE DEGREE

The ability of the United States to help shape world events has always required more than just military might or economic clout. It requires soft power and few elements are more effective than an American education, which tends to ingrain legitamicy and respect for the U.S. among foreign students who come to discover what the U.S. is all about.

THE HONDA ODYSSEY

If I asked you to guess the most all-American car available in 2018—that is to say, the highest portion of American parts, labor and assembly—you’d just be spinning your wheels naming Fords and Chevys, but according to the NHTSA, the most American car of 2018 was in fact…the Honda Odyssey.
 

THE IPHONE

The smartphone isn’t just another product. It’s the pinnacle of human invention—at least so far and it’s a story made possible by trade; these little rectangles in our pockets are a miracle—and at times, a menace—that simply could not exist absent a free-flowing, globalized economy.

GAME OF THRONES

Entertainment—like education and tourism—is one of America’s most essential imports and exports and one that supports a large number of jobs. The TV shows, movies, books, video games and other sources of entertainment that come to America from other countries help broaden our minds, amuse and fulfill us, and draw us closer to people around the world.