How does international trade affect the lives of U. S. citizens?

The short answer is - A lot!

Explanation:

According to the U.S Chamber of Commerce, the population of the U.S. is just 5% of that of the rest of the world and the only way to raise real wages within the U.S. is to reach out to that other 95% with its own products and services.

To put that in perspective, there are over forty million jobs in the U.S. all of which depend directly or indirectly on trade. In 2019 alone, the U.S. recorded approximately USD 1.4 trillion in exports of its own manufactured goods. According to the U.S. Department for Commerce, in the same year, the above-mentioned export activity accounted for at least 6 million jobs within the manufacturing sector in the U.S. and this is just U.S. manufacturing versus international trade.

Taking a look at Services exported from the U.S. in 2019, we see that services worth about USD 850 billion were exported. This makes America the largest exporter of services to the world.

Let's imagine for a moment, that that didn't exist?

We have looked at exports thus far. However, there is also a flip side of the coin called international trade and that is imports. No country is 100% self-sufficient to the point that they have a comparative advantage in every area hence the need for international trade.

The U.S. economy has a Free Trade Agreement with over 20 countries. Statistics also show that more than 60% of all raw material inputs are imported.

We can thus conclude that International Trade is key to attaining and sustaining the American Dream.

Cheers