FT Trade Secrets

The rise and fall of global trade from the Romans to coronavirus

Senior FT trade writer Alan Beattie on the forces behind the surge and collapse of globalisation, from the Roman and Mongol empires to Donald Trump and Covid-19

More from the FT Trade Secrets channel

Discover more content on the topics that inspire, engage and inform the world we live in today at the FT Channels hub.

Discover more​

Follow us

FT Trade Secrets

FT Channels, a partnership destination that combines impactful and enriching multimedia content to spark curiosity and encourage discovery. Each vertical brings expert insights from the Financial Times and our Partners into the most pressing issues of our time.


FT Trade Secrets is a video channel exploring the changing face of international trade and globalisation at a critical time - with the global system under threat, continued US-China trade tensions, and the UK’s divorce from the EU. The channel alternates between independent reporting from FT journalists and expert commentary from financial markets data provider Refinitiv.