Investigating Trade Policy Through a State Lens
Unit 4 · Lesson 4.13 · Last updated June 2026
A 45-minute lesson where students research their state's imports, exports, and trade partners, then analyze how three proposed federal trade policies would affect their state's workers, businesses, consumers, and economy — preparing to speak as a podcast guest.
Overview
Students explore how international trade policy impacts their own state. Using provided research resources, they identify their state's top exports, imports, and trade partners, then analyze how three proposed federal trade policies would affect state industries, workers, consumers, and economic health. Students prepare talking points to appear as a guest on a fictional podcast called "State of Trade." Note: Resource 1 and Resource 2 are required; the remaining visual resources are optional. Different resources may use different trade categorizations for the same state — be prepared to discuss this with students.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the impact of trade on different stakeholders.
- Analyze and evaluate arguments related to international trade.
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Materials
- Instruction Slides (display during class period)
- Student Handout pp. 4–6 (1 copy per student)
- Research Resources p. 7 (share electronically as "view only" — post to your LMS or distribute the link)
- Computers or tablets (1 per student)
Lesson Sequence
Slides 2–3
- Display Slide 2. Instruct students to respond to the activator questions in their course notebook or on scratch paper — responses will not be collected. After approximately 1 minute, click to reveal text and instruct students to record their confidence in their responses. (Additional educator tips and suggested answers are in the notes section throughout Instruction Slides.)
- Proceed to Slide 3. Explain the learning objectives.
Slides 4–11
- Progress through Slides 4–5. Distribute 1 copy of Student Handout to each student. Read aloud (or have a student volunteer read) the "Introduction" on the handout.
- Advance to Slide 6. Summarize expectations for completing Parts A and B. Tell students they will record notes and write responses to the podcast prep questions on their handout. Remind students that the end-of-unit summative assessment requires similar skills and knowledge.
- Display Slide 7. Explain that students will complete their research using the links in Research Resources. Emphasize that Resource 1 and Resource 2 are required; the remaining visual resources are optional. Note: Post Research Resources to your LMS or share the link directly so students can access it on their devices.
- Advance through Slides 8–10 to briefly model how to navigate Resource 1 and Resource 2.
- Proceed to Slide 11. Distribute a laptop or tablet to each student with access to Research Resources. Allow 30 minutes to complete the handout individually. Circulate to answer questions. Provide a time check at 20 minutes and encourage students to begin Part B if they haven't already. After approximately 30 minutes, instruct students to make final additions and put devices away.
Slides 12–14
- Progress through Slides 12–13. Organize students into pairs — ideally partner students who responded to different prompts for question 3. Tell students to share their response to question 3 with their partner.
- Display Slide 14. Instruct students to return to their activator responses from Step 1 and discuss the prompts on the slide with their partner.
Assessment Wrapper Review — Slides 15–16
- Advance through Slides 15–16. Remind students that before and after completing the Economic Growth Proposal in Lesson 4.7, they engaged in metacognition using the Assessment Wrapper. Remind them that reflecting on previous assessments can improve future performance.
- Click to reveal the text on Slide 16. Tell students that in the following lesson they will be introduced to the end-of-unit assessment — the time has come to put their reflections into action. Encourage students to locate and review their Assessment Wrapper reflection responses and use that information to guide outside-of-class review before the end-of-unit assessment.
Aligned Standards
Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics
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