Inclusive Trade Policy for Global Economic Growth and Security

Eye-catching headlines on trade and economic security gloss over the economic objective of trade: exchanging U.S.-made goods and services for those from foreign partners at an advantageous price benefiting both and boosting prosperity.  No one country has the resources, nor inclination, to be fully self-sufficient especially as standards of living continue to rise.  The current focus on domestic manufacturing and self-sufficiency ignores the additional economic benefits that Americans and the rest of the world can gain from an inclusive trade policy.  A trade policy directed toward supporting women’s economic inclusion can increase U.S. and global prosperity and security. 

Tariffs, the taxes on goods paid by the importer to the importer’s government, are just one aspect of international trade policy.  Trade is neither the silver bullet nor the werewolf of economic policy.  And as with all economic policies, the benefits are not equally shared across the population.  However, when trade policy is directed toward economic inclusion, strengthening economic growth and security, the gains can be significant.  In 2024, the WTO observed that “trade has played a significant role in reducing poverty.  Especially in low-and middle-income economies.”

Trade can be the carrot increasing the economic inclusion of women and girls is key to sustainably reducing poverty.  Studies have shown that women’s economic involvement leads to higher rates of local investment and higher household incomes.  In addition to more overall economic growth, we would see more women in the labor market, including here in the United States, from redirecting trade policy toward inclusion.  Importantly this makes it easier for women to earn a reported wage instead of being relegated to unpaid labor or being paid under the table. 

In the United States, women are more likely to live in poverty than men and are less likely to work in manufacturing (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in September women made up only 28.7% of the manufacturing workforce in the United States).  This means that women are less likely to benefit from the current U.S. trade policy.  According to the UN, “1 in every 10 women in the world lives in extreme poverty” and globally only 61% of women are included in the labor force, as compared to 90% of men.  In 2024, twice as many women lived in conflict areas as in 2017, and by 2030, twice as many women as men will be food insecure as a result of climate change.  Trade policy should be used to reduce poverty for women and girls.

The benefits and costs of trade have not been gender neutral.  Acknowledging that bias and accordingly adjusting the policy lens can add to economic diversification and shore up economic security.  In 2023, Moody’s reported that closing the gender gap in the global workforce would “raise global economic activity by approximately 7%, or about 7 trillion [USD]” with the potential to see even greater gains if gender gaps were closed in large emerging economies.  Importantly, a push to include women in the economy, particularly at skills-appropriate levels, is not zero-sum.  A more inclusive economy translates to more opportunity, growth, and security for all.  

The positive link between women’s participation in security frameworks and the frameworks’ durability is well established.  We also know that women tend to invest in their communities at higher rates than men.  A woman entrepreneur is more likely to use profits to pay for childcare than upgrade her office printer (for example).  This creates a cycle of long-lasting and organic economic development, reinforcing the security frameworks.  This also helps change the norm that work done by women is un-or under-paid if the wages earned by women contribute to local economic growth.  A positive shift around women’s participation globally would support security as well as economic goals. 

Such a trade policy would also require a more targeted approach in addressing the trade barriers that have a greater impact on women than on men.  In 2024, the UN published a list of benefits derived from women’s economic inclusion as well as the challenges faced by women globally in the formal paid workforce.  These challenges are trade barriers disproportionately impacting women.  Cultural and safety barriers faced solely by women are well known, as are gendered wage and funding gaps.  But higher border costs, limits on movement, and higher taxes on women’s goods make it more difficult for women specifically to engage in the global economy. Interestingly, the move toward digitalization can help to ease some of these barriers to women taking advantage of the global economy through trade but cannot remove all. 

Gender inequalities have systemic negative impacts on both the economy and national security.  Barriers to including women in the global economy limit growth and innovation.  Trade is an important tool for creating economic wealth globally.  Addressing the trade barriers disproportionately impacting women will allow more women to take advantage of the opportunities presented by global markets.  By increasing women’s economic inclusion, the United States would create greater economic resiliency domestically and globally.  

As President Trump has demonstrated, trade policy can be an international economic cudgel.  It can be used as leverage to address regulatory barriers to U.S. exports, and it could also be used to highlight and put pressure on systemic gendered barriers.  Trade policy tools have been, for better or worse, released from the confines of the international commercial and economic sphere.  So why not use the tool to address social barriers to women’s economic inclusion?  

Margaret Cekuta is an expert on trade policy, she has worked on international trade issues since 2014 in both government and the private sector.  She holds a BSFS and MALS from Georgetown University.