4.2.8 Trade

Trade

​Learners can: 

• explain why nations trade

​The Industrial Revolution was a period of time when economies changed from buying and selling handcrafted items to machine-made products.

The invention of new machines allowed goods to be produced faster and in larger quantities.
The new inventions of the Industrial Revolution changed how goods were produced. Many factories were built in cities, encouraging people to move to cities in search of jobs. This growth of cities changed the way people lived, worked, and interacted.
The Industrial Revolution also led to the globalization of trade, as new transportation systems like railroads, steamships, and airplanes made it easier to move goods across long distances.

Today, you will learn more about the globalization of trade.

Trading in the Past

Trading is the buying, selling, or bartering of goods and services.

Today, people use money to trade for things they need or want.

When you exchange one thing for another thing, you are trading.
Trading is a very important part of the economy today. However, people have been participating in trading for thousands of years.

In the past, people traded resources for things they needed or wanted. For example, trading was once how the Native Americans survived.

Press through the screens below to learn how the Native American tribes in the Southwest often traded with the Native American tribes in the Plains.
People in the continents of Europe and Asia have been trading for a long time, too! One major trading route that was traveled was called the Silk Road. It was not an actual road but instead, it was a path that merchants used to trade goods.
In the past, trading resources was how people survived. People traveled long distances to get the resources that they needed and wanted.

The need to find new trading routes that were faster and safer led to discoveries of land, eventually resulting in the settlement of what became the United States of America!

Trading still exists today but on a much larger scale. Most countries trade resources for money.

Exchanging Goods

When people trade, they offer what they have in exchange for goods or services. Trade has been a common form of exchange because it has many advantages. It allows you to use the resources that you have to get the resources that you need. However, there are also disadvantages to trading.

When you trade with someone else, you might not agree on the trade.

In your exchange, you might think that what you gave is worth more than what you received.
Today, most people trade money for goods and services. They use money to exchange for the things they need or want.

International or worldwide trade has allowed people to have a variety of resources to choose from. Without trade, you would only be able to have the products that can be grown or made in your community. EDIO VIDEO PAGE 4

Multiple Choice

What is an advantage of trading?

• Trading makes goods more expensive.

• 
  Trading limits the exchange of new ideas.

• 
  Trading allows people to have access to goods.

• Trading makes it harder for people to work together.

Today, the United States buys and sells products to countries around the world. Watch the video below to learn more about global, or international trade.
Global, or international, trade allows countries to get a variety of goods that they do not produce locally. This helps meet the needs ​International Trade

Earlier in this lesson, you learned about the Silk Road. The Silk Road was one of the first major trading routes that inspired worldwide trade.

People traded goods like silk, spices, and gold, which helped different parts of the world share resources they did not have before.
Ideas, inventions, and cultures were also shared along the trade routes.

This inspired people to explore and trade even more.

Over time, trade routes and the products that were traded expanded to include many more countries around the world.
The Industrial Revolution was another factor that encouraged the globalization of trade. Improvements in transportation systems made it easier to move goods across long distances.
With the technology that is available today, goods can be transported all around the world by: airplanes, ships, trucks, trains, and in some cases, through pipelines.
Today, the United States buys and sells products to countries around the world.

Global, or international, trade allows countries to get a variety of goods that they do not produce locally. This helps meet the needs of businesses and consumers. It also promotes economic growth and creates jobs.
EDIO VIDEO PAGE 5

Match

Match the following

• goods and services bought from other countries

• goods and services sold to other countries

• blank

Imports

Exports

blank

• Imports

• Exports

• blank

Advantages and Disadvantages of Global Trade

There are many advantages when countries trade globally. There are also some disadvantages.
Global trade allows consumers to buy products that cannot be found in their own environment. In most U.S. communities, people have the opportunity to buy almost any product they can think of from around the world.

Global trade is very beneficial to most of the countries that participate in it. Many countries make more money selling products to other countries than to people in their own country.

Some countries are known for their specialization in manufacturing certain goods. Continue on to the next page to learn more about the specialization of global trade.

Specialization

When a worker has a specific task that requires special skills to complete the job, it is called specialization. Someone who works on an assembly line is an example of specialization. They perform just one task.

Many businesses also specialize because they manufacture only one type of product. Careers can be specialized, too! Many careers require training to gain knowledge in a specific field.
Countries specialize, too!

Many countries have certain natural resources that most countries depend on.

As a result, those countries will specialize in producing their excess natural resources to trade with other countries.

For example, Saudi Arabia specializes in oil and petroleum products.

Oil is used for fuel in vehicles and to heat homes.
Specialization is important because it helps countries best use their skills and resources. By focusing on what they do well, countries can trade what they do have with other countries to get the products they do not have.

Trading Partners

Countries that trade with each other are known as trading partners. When trades are made between trading partners, they agree on what products will be traded, including imports and exports.
Amazing job learning about the U.S. economy and the global economy! By participating in global trade, countries can:

• import products that they cannot produce or make; and

• export products that other countries want and need!

Word Cloud

Why do nations trade?

Today, you learned about the global economy and how countries benefit from trading with others.

Great job today!