D2.Eco.14.6-8: Barriers to Trade and How They Change Trade Between Nations
In plain English: D2.Eco.14.6-8 is the C3 Framework economics indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to explain barriers to trade and how those barriers influence trade among nations. Students learn the main barriers (tariffs, quotas, embargoes, product rules and natural barriers such as distance) and trace their effects on prices, the amount traded and trading partners, using the Embargo of 1807 and an invented case.
Explain barriers to trade and how those barriers influence trade among nations.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Economics · The Global Economy · Official standard
D2.Eco.14.6-8 asks students to explain barriers to trade and how those barriers influence trade among nations. In this lesson students learn six kinds of barriers (tariffs, quotas, embargoes, product rules, subsidies, and natural or other barriers such as distance and language), calculate how a tariff or a quota changes prices and amounts, and use a three-step chain to explain each effect: what changes at the border, what happens to prices or costs, and what happens to the amount traded and to trading partners.
The real case is the Embargo of 1807, when the United States stopped its own ships from leaving for foreign ports during the war between Britain and France. Students read President Jefferson's messages (Source 1) and an account from the State Department's Office of the Historian (Source 2), and they check both against real export and import figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. An invented scenario about two fictional countries (Source 3) lets them trace a tariff, a quota, a product rule and the cost of distance. The lesson presents the reasons people give for and against barriers and leaves the judgment to students.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Define tariff, quota, embargo, product rule (standard), subsidy and natural barriers, and classify examples of each
Calculate how a tariff changes the price of an import and how a quota changes the amount imported
Explain, with a three-step chain, how a barrier changes prices, the amount traded and trading partners
Use real trade data and two sources to explain how the Embargo of 1807 influenced trade between the United States and other nations
Describe the reasons supporters and critics give for a trade barrier
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Finding a percent of a quantity and a percent change 7.RP.A.3
Explaining how economic decisions affect individuals, businesses and society D2.Eco.1.6-8
Reading a short historical source for its main idea and supporting details RH.6-8.2
"Your family wants to buy a desk lamp. The store has two that look the same. One was made in this country and costs $30. The other was made in another country and costs $26, but the government adds a $6 charge to every lamp that comes across the border. Which one would you buy? Who do you think asked for the $6 charge, and who would be unhappy about it?"
Take a quick vote, then ask students to add up the price of the imported lamp ($26 + $6 = $32). Collect their guesses about who wants the charge (the people who make lamps in this country, or a government that wants the money) and who is unhappy (buyers, stores, the foreign lamp maker). Tell students that the $6 charge is one kind of barrier to trade: anything that makes it harder, slower or more expensive to buy and sell goods between countries. Today they will learn the main kinds of barriers and use a real event from 1807-1809 to see how much a barrier can change trade among nations.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Part 1: Words to know.Trade is buying and selling. Exports are goods a country sells to other countries; imports are goods it buys from other countries. A barrier to trade is anything that makes this harder. Some barriers are made by governments on purpose. Others come from nature or from differences between countries.
Barriers to trade (working definitions for this lesson)
Barrier
What it is
Example (invented)
Usual effect on trade
Tariff
A tax on imported goods, paid when the goods cross the border
A 5 percent tax on imported winter coats
Imports cost more, so people buy fewer of them; the government collects money
Quota
A limit on how much of a good may be imported in a year
No more than 1,000 imported pianos a year
Imports cannot go above the limit; with less for sale, prices tend to rise
Embargo
A government order that stops trade with a country, or stops some or all trade
A ban on all trade with a neighbor during a dispute
Trade with that country falls sharply or stops, unless people smuggle
Product rule (standard)
A safety, health or labeling rule that imported goods must meet
Every imported toy must pass a new safety test
Meeting the rule adds cost and time; some sellers stop exporting there
Subsidy
Money a government pays its own producers
Payments to home farmers for each ton of corn grown
Home goods can sell for less, so imports are harder to sell
Natural or other barriers
Distance, mountains, oceans, different languages or different money
Five weeks of shipping across an ocean
Shipping and translation add cost, so countries often trade more with nearby partners
Part 2: Why would a country put up a barrier? People disagree, and students should be able to explain more than one side. Supporters of a barrier may say it protects jobs in home industries, keeps important industries alive for a time of war, protects buyers from unsafe goods, puts pressure on another government, or raises money for the government. Critics may say it raises prices for buyers, gives them fewer choices, hurts the businesses that use imported parts, and invites the other country to answer with barriers of its own (retaliation). Economists study how large each of these effects is in each case. In this lesson we explain barriers and their effects; we do not decide whether a barrier is good or bad.
Tariff (invented numbers)
A country puts a 15 percent tariff on imported ceramic teapots. An imported teapot sold for $20 before the tariff, and a teapot made at home sells for $22. If the store passes the whole tariff on to buyers, what does the imported teapot cost now?
Result: Tariff = 15% of $20 = 0.15 x $20 = $3. New price = $20 + $3 = $23. The home-made teapot ($22) is now the cheaper one, so some buyers switch and imports of teapots fall.
Quota (invented numbers)
A country imported 5,000 tons of dried mangoes last year. This year it sets a quota of 3,000 tons. By how many tons, and by what percent, must mango imports fall?
Result: 5,000 - 3,000 = 2,000 tons. Percent change = 2,000 / 5,000 x 100 = 40%. With fewer mangoes for sale, their price in that country tends to rise.
Embargo (real data)
Use the table below. U.S. exports were $108.3 million in 1807 and $22.4 million in 1808, the year of the embargo. By what percent did exports fall?
Result: Change = 22.4 - 108.3 = -85.9 million dollars. Percent change = -85.9 / 108.3 x 100 = -79.3%. Exports fell by about 79%, so only about one fifth of the 1807 amount was left.
Natural barrier (invented numbers)
A crate of oranges is worth $30. Sending it by truck to a neighboring country costs $4. Sending it by ship to a country on another continent costs $12. What share of the crate's value does each shipping cost add?
Result: Truck: 4 / 30 x 100 = 13.3%. Ship: 12 / 30 x 100 = 40%. Distance is a barrier: the far-away buyer pays much more, so the nearby country is the easier market.
U.S. merchandise exports and imports, 1805-1810, in millions of dollars (real data: U.S. Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945, series M 51 and M 54; years end September 30; rounded from the source's thousands of dollars; the source notes that its figures before 1821 include gold and silver)
Year
Exports (goods sold to other countries)
Imports (goods bought from other countries)
1805
95.6
120.6
1806
101.5
129.4
1807
108.3
138.5
1808
22.4
57.0
1809
52.2
59.4
1810
66.8
85.4
Part 3: How to explain an effect. Teach a three-step chain for any barrier: (1) What changes at the border? (a tax, a limit, a ban, a test or a long trip), (2) What happens to prices or costs? and (3) What happens to the amount traded and to the trading partners? Model it with Example 1: the tariff adds $3 at the border, the imported teapot costs more than the home one, and fewer teapots are imported. Point out that a barrier can also move trade to a different partner: if one country is blocked, buyers may turn to another one that is farther away or more expensive. Show Diagram 1 and ask what students notice about 1808.
Guided Practice15 minutes
A real barrier: the Embargo of 1807. Context note: from 1803, Britain and France were at war in Europe. The United States was neutral (it did not take a side) and its merchant ships carried goods to both. Both countries tried to stop the other's trade, and American ships were caught in the middle. Read Source 2, from the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian, together. Words to know: a decree is an official order; a blockade is the use of warships to stop ships from entering or leaving ports; naturalized citizens are people who became citizens after moving to a country.
1As expected, Britain declared war on France in 1803, and would remain at war for over a decade. During this period of war, Napoleon and British leaders concentrated on European affairs, but the conflict spilled over into the Atlantic. From 1803 to 1806, the United States succeeded in remaining neutral, but suffered from impressment, British seizure of British-born naturalized U.S. citizens into the British navy. President Thomas Jefferson sent William Pinkney and James Monroe to negotiate a treaty that would halt the impressment of American sailors, but when the signed treaty came back without any British concessions on the impressment issue, Jefferson did not pass it on to the Senate for ratification.
2In 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree, which forbade trade with Britain, and the British Government responded the next year with Orders in Council, which instituted a blockade of French-controlled Europe, and authorized the British navy to seize ships violating the blockade. Napoleon responded with further trade restrictions in the Milan Decree of 1807.
3U.S. relations with Great Britain became increasingly rocky during this period. On June 22, 1807, the H.M.S. Leopard bombarded and forcibly boarded the U.S.S. Chesapeake off Norfolk, Virginia in search of British navy deserters. President Jefferson responded with an embargo on all foreign trade in an effort to weaken the British economy. The embargo was extremely unpopular in New England, where the economy was heavily dependent on trade with Britain. Moreover, the British economy was not strongly affected by the embargo, which proved difficult to enforce. In early 1809, in one of his final acts as president, Jefferson replaced the embargo with the Non-Intercourse Act, which allowed trade with other nations except Britain and France. This act also proved virtually impossible to enforce.
Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, Napoleonic Wars and the United States, 1803-1815, Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations (Source 2: three paragraphs) (2015). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
The problem at sea. Prompt: in paragraph 1, what was impressment, and why did it anger Americans? Teacher note: British ships seized British-born men who had become U.S. citizens and forced them into the British navy; the United States saw these sailors as its own citizens. Historians add that American-born sailors were sometimes taken as well.
Barriers made by other nations. Prompt: paragraph 2 names three orders. Which one came first, and what did it do? Teacher note: Napoleon's Berlin Decree of 1806, which forbade trade with Britain. Have students write the other two orders on their organizer and decide, in pairs, what each one did to trade.
The American answer. Prompt: in paragraph 3, what event happened just before Jefferson's embargo, and what did he hope the embargo would do? Teacher note: the British warship Leopard attacked and boarded the U.S.S. Chesapeake in June 1807; Jefferson hoped to weaken the British economy by stopping trade.
Check the numbers. Prompt: use the table in Direct Instruction. Find exports and imports for 1807 and 1808. Did both fall? Teacher note: yes, both fell; exports went from 108.3 to 22.4 million dollars (Example 3). Students calculate the change in imports in the homework and compare the two.
Independent Practice15 minutes
Jefferson's side. Source 1 gives President Thomas Jefferson's own words. Paragraphs 1 and 2 are his short message asking Congress for the embargo in December 1807; paragraph 3 comes from his last yearly message, almost a year later. Words to know: belligerent powers are countries at war; an inhibition is a ban; privations are hardships, things people had to go without; spoliations are seizures of property. In paragraph 3, the "experiment" was Jefferson's offer to reopen American trade with Britain if Britain cancelled its Orders in Council against American ships (France was likewise asked to cancel its decrees); neither country did.
1The communications now made, shewing the great and increasing dangers with which our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise are threatened on the high seas and elsewhere from the belligerent powers of Europe, and it being of the greatest importance to keep in safety these essential resources, I deem it my duty to recommend the subject to the consideration of Congress, who will doubtless perceive all the advantages which may be expected from an inhibition of the departure of our vessels from the ports of the United States.
2Their wisdom will also see the necessity of making every preparation for whatever events may grow out of the present crisis.
[...]
3This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and no other event having occurred on which a suspension of the embargo by the Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in the extent originally given to it. We have the satisfaction, however, to reflect that in return for the privations imposed by the measure, and which our fellow-citizens in general have borne with patriotism, it has had the important effects of saving our mariners and our vast mercantile property, as well as of affording time for prosecuting the defensive and provisional measures called for by the occasion. It has demonstrated to foreign nations the moderation and firmness which govern our councils, and to our citizens the necessity of uniting in support of the laws and the rights of their country, and has thus long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations which, if resisted, involved war; if submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle of our national independence.
Thomas Jefferson, in James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. 1, Two Messages to Congress on the Embargo, December 18, 1807 and November 8, 1808 (Source 1: Jefferson explains the embargo) (1807; this edition 1897). Public domain (published 1897). Source text.
Questions for Source 1 (answer in complete sentences):
Paragraph 1: what exactly does Jefferson ask Congress to stop? Put it in your own words.
Paragraph 3: Jefferson says Americans had "privations" because of the embargo. Name two groups of people who might have gone without something, and what.
Paragraph 3 ends with two choices Jefferson says the country faced. What were they, and why does he say the embargo was better than both?
Compare Source 1 with Source 2, paragraph 3. Find one point where the two sources tell a different story about the embargo. Why might a president and a historian's office describe the same law differently?
Teacher note for question 3: resisting the seizures "involved war," and accepting them "sacrificed a vital principle of our national independence"; Jefferson presents the embargo as a third path. Accept any well-supported answer to question 4.
Closure10 minutes
An invented case with several barriers. Students read Source 3, an invented scenario about two fictional countries. They will use it for the exit ticket and for several quiz and homework questions, so they should keep it in front of them.
1Talvera and Corvany are two neighboring countries joined by a highway. Talvera's farmers grow cocoa beans, and Corvany's factories make solar lanterns. Every year, Talvera sells 3,500 tons of cocoa beans to Corvany, and Corvany sells 60,000 solar lanterns to Talvera. In Talvera's stores, a lantern from Corvany sells for $40. A lantern made in Talvera sells for $46.
2Talvera's lantern makers told their government that they were losing customers and might have to cut jobs. Talvera's government then placed a 25 percent tariff on every lantern from Corvany. Store owners and families who use the lanterns complained that the tariff would raise prices.
3Corvany's government answered with a quota: from now on, only 2,000 tons of cocoa beans from Talvera may enter Corvany each year. Cocoa from Talvera costs $2,700 a ton, plus $40 a ton to send it by truck. Corvany's chocolate makers say they will have to buy the rest of their cocoa from Pellora, a country across the ocean. Cocoa from Pellora costs $2,650 a ton, and shipping it across the ocean costs $150 a ton.
4Talvera also passed a new rule: every imported lantern must be tested in a Talveran laboratory before it is sold. The test costs $3 per lantern. Talvera's leaders say the rule protects families from lanterns that could overheat or start fires. Corvany's leaders say their lanterns already pass safety tests at home and that the rule is one more way to keep them out of Talvera.
SVHS (invented scenario written for this page), Lanterns and Cocoa: Talvera and Corvany (Source 3: invented scenario) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Exit ticket (index card): "Name one barrier in Source 3, say what kind of barrier it is, and use the three-step chain to explain how it changes trade between Talvera and Corvany." Sort the cards by barrier and read two strong chains aloud next class. Teacher note: Source 1 uses the spelling "shewing" (an older spelling of "showing") and formal language from 1807-1808; read paragraph 3 aloud and pause on each glossed word.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a one-page barrier chart with a picture cue for each barrier (a price tag for a tariff, a full box for a quota, a stop sign for an embargo)
Provide the three-step chain as a fill-in frame: "At the border, ___. So the price ___. So the amount traded ___."
Read Sources 1 and 2 aloud one paragraph at a time and pre-teach the glossed words
Let students use a calculator and a worked percent-change example card
For Advanced Students
After Homework Problem 4 is collected, ask them to explain the difference between the 1807-1808 changes in exports and imports, and what other facts they would need to be sure
Have them design a fourth barrier for Source 3 and predict its effect on both countries
Ask them to compare a tariff and a quota that cut imports by the same amount: who collects money in each case?
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong answers name the barrier correctly, do the price or amount calculation with the right base, and finish the chain: they say what happens to the amount traded and, where it applies, which partner gains or loses trade. In source questions, look for answers that cite the paragraph and keep a president's view apart from a historian's summary. Watch for two common mix-ups: calling every barrier a tariff, and dividing by the new amount instead of the old one when finding a percent change.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Barrier Card Sort
15 minPairs
Pairs sort 12 invented cards into six piles: tariff, quota, embargo, product rule, subsidy, and natural or other barrier. For each card they also write who would most likely ask for that barrier, or "nobody" if no one chose it. The cards describe invented countries and policies.
The 12 Barrier Cards (invented)
A country charges a 10 percent tax on every imported rice cooker.
No more than 50,000 imported truck tires may enter the country each year.
After a border clash, a government forbids all trade with its neighbor.
Imported peanut butter must carry an allergy label in the country's official language.
A mountain range with no paved roads separates two countries.
A $1 charge is added to each imported pair of jeans.
Only 2 million liters of imported apple juice may be sold in the country each year.
Imported chicken must come from farms that the buying country's inspectors have visited.
Two trading partners are 9,000 miles apart, and a cargo ship takes five weeks to make the trip.
A government bans the sale of computer chips to one other country.
Buyers and sellers in two countries speak different languages and use different money.
A government pays its own wheat farmers for every ton they grow, so they can sell wheat for less than foreign farmers.
Answer Key for the Teacher
Tariff: cards 1 and 6. Quota: cards 2 and 7. Embargo: cards 3 and 10 (card 10 is an embargo on one good to one country). Product rule: cards 4 and 8. Subsidy: card 12. Natural or other barrier: cards 5, 9 and 11. Cards 5, 9 and 11 are the only ones no government chose. Accept reasoned answers about who asks for each barrier, for example home tire makers for card 2 or a health agency for card 8.
Discussion Questions
Which cards would raise the price that buyers pay? Which would stop some goods from arriving at all?
Card 8 could protect buyers' health, and it could also keep foreign chicken out. How could you tell which purpose matters more?
Which barriers could a government remove tomorrow, and which can only be made smaller with better roads, ships or translation?
2
The Trade Game: Raising the Barrier
20 minWhole class in two "countries"
Split the class into two invented countries, Fishland and Grainland. Each Fishland student gets 4 paper "fish" cards and each Grainland student gets 4 "grain" cards, plus 6 tokens. Students trade one card for one card across the room. Points: each fish-and-grain pair is worth 4 points, each unpaired card is worth 1 point, and each token is worth 1 point. A student who makes two trades turns 4 single cards (4 points) into 2 pairs (8 points), a gain of 2 points per trade.
The Four Rounds (3 minutes each)
Round 1, open trade: trade freely. Record the number of cross-border trades on the board.
Round 2, small tariff: reset the cards. Each card a student imports costs 1 token, paid to the teacher (the importing country's government). A trade now gains 2 - 1 = 1 point.
Round 3, quota: reset. No tariff, but only 4 trades in total may cross the border this round. The teacher keeps the count.
Round 4, high tariff: reset. Each imported card costs 3 tokens. A trade now changes a student's score by 2 - 3 = -1 point.
Teacher Notes
Expect fewer trades in rounds 2-4 than in round 1, and almost none in round 4, because trading now lowers a student's score. If your class keeps trading in round 4, ask students to recalculate their points. Keep a tally of the tokens the "government" collects in rounds 2 and 4: this is the tariff revenue that supporters of tariffs sometimes point to.
Discussion Questions
How did the number of trades change from round to round? Which barrier cut trade the most in your class?
In round 3, who decided which students got to trade? Is that fair? What happens to the students who could not trade?
Who gained from the tariff in round 2, and who lost?
3
The Embargo Hearing
15 minGroups of 4
It is early 1809. Each group is a committee that must advise Congress: keep the embargo, or replace it with a law that allows some trade? Each student takes one invented role card, reads the evidence it points to, and speaks for one minute. The group then votes and writes a two-sentence recommendation that cites at least two pieces of evidence. The roles are invented people; the evidence comes from Sources 1 and 2 and the table.
Role Cards (invented people)
An adviser to President Jefferson. You support the embargo. Use Source 1, paragraph 3, to explain what you think it has achieved.
A ship owner in Boston. Your ships have sat at the wharf since the law passed and your crews have no work. Use Source 2, paragraph 3, and the export numbers for 1807 and 1808.
A Virginia wheat farmer. You sell much of your crop to buyers overseas, and you have heard that ships may not leave for foreign ports. Use Source 1, paragraph 1, and the table.
A member of Congress who wants a middle path. You think the embargo is too strict but do not want to give in to Britain or France. Propose a law that is less strict than the embargo and explain who it would help and who it would not.
Teacher Notes
Score the recommendation on the evidence and reasoning, not on the position. Both "keep" and "replace" can be well supported. After the vote, have students find in Source 2, paragraph 3, what actually happened in early 1809 and compare it with their recommendation.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
1 diagrams
Diagram 1: U.S. Exports and Imports Before, During and After the Embargo
Drawn to scale from U.S. Census Bureau figures (Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945, series M 51 and M 54), in millions of dollars; years end September 30. The shaded year, 1808 (October 1807 to September 1808), is the first full year of the embargo, which lasted from December 1807 to March 1809. Blue bars are exports and dark bars are imports.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D2.Eco.14.6-8 Homework: Barriers and Their Effects
Directions: Use Source 3 (Closure) for Problems 2 and 3, the 1805-1810 trade table (Direct Instruction) for Problems 4 and 5, and Source 2 (Guided Practice) for Problem 6. Show every calculation, and finish each explanation with what happens to the amount traded.
Part 1: Naming Barriers and Their Costs (Problems 1-3)
Name the kind of barrier in each invented case (tariff, quota, embargo, product rule, subsidy, or natural or other barrier): (a) A country lets in only 300 imported motorcycles a month. (b) A 20 percent tax is added to imported sunglasses. (c) A government stops all shipments of oil to one country. (d) Every imported bottle of shampoo must list its ingredients on a label approved by the health ministry. (e) A river with strong rapids and no bridges runs along the border. (f) For one of (a)-(d), say who in the importing country might have asked for it.
Source 3, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4: (a) Suppose Talvera raises its tariff from 25 percent to 30 percent. Find the price of a Corvanian lantern in Talvera after the 30 percent tariff and the $3 laboratory test are both added. (b) How much more does it cost than a lantern made in Talvera? (c) Predict what will happen to the 60,000 lanterns Corvany sells to Talvera each year, and explain why.
Source 3, paragraph 4: explain the laboratory-test rule from Talvera's point of view and from Corvany's point of view. What evidence would help you decide whether the rule is mainly about safety or mainly about keeping lanterns out?
Part 2: Effects on Trade Among Nations (Problems 4-6)
Use the table. (a) By what percent did U.S. imports change from 1807 to 1808? (b) Compare your answer with the change in exports in Example 3. Which fell by the larger share?
Use the table. (a) What percent of its 1807 level had exports reached in 1810? (b) Had American trade returned to what it was before the embargo? Explain with the numbers.
Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences: How did the barriers described in Source 2 (the Berlin Decree, the Orders in Council and the embargo) influence trade between the United States, Britain and France? Use at least two pieces of evidence, including one number from the table.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Names Barriers Correctly
All barriers named correctly with a reason
Most barriers named correctly
Few or none named correctly
Correct Calculations
Right method, divides by the starting amount, answers rounded sensibly
Right method with small errors
Wrong method or missing
Explains the Effect on Trade
Every explanation ends with what happens to the amount traded or the trading partner
Some explanations stop at the price
Effects not explained
Uses Evidence and Perspectives
Cites paragraphs and numbers and gives more than one point of view where asked
Cites some evidence or gives only one side
No evidence
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-4, 9, 13 and 17 test the kinds of barriers. Questions 7, 8, 16 and 20 use Source 2 in Guided Practice, and questions 12 and 16 use Source 1 in Independent Practice. Questions 10, 11, 16 and 20 use the 1805-1810 trade table in Direct Instruction. Questions 5, 6, 14, 15, 18 and 19 use Source 3, the invented scenario in Closure. Your score updates as you answer; short-answer questions show a model answer to compare with yours.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A government adds a tax to every imported camera when it crosses the border. What kind of trade barrier is this?
Answer: B
A tax on imported goods is a tariff. A quota (A) limits the amount imported but does not tax it; an embargo (C) stops trade instead of taxing it; a subsidy (D) is money paid to home producers, not a tax on imports.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these policies is a quota?
Answer: D
A quota is a limit on the amount of a good that may be imported, so D is a quota. Choice A is a tariff (a tax), B is an embargo (a ban) and C is a subsidy (a payment to home producers).
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is a natural barrier to trade?
Answer: A
A desert with no roads is a barrier that comes from nature, not from a government decision; it makes moving goods slow and costly. Choices B, C and D are all barriers that governments choose: a tariff, a quota and a product rule.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A country requires every imported electric fan to pass a safety test in the country's own laboratories. What kind of barrier is this?
Answer: C
A safety test that imported goods must pass is a product rule, also called a standard. It is not a tariff (A) because no tax is charged on the value of the fan, not a quota (B) because there is no limit on the number of fans, and not an embargo (D) because fans that pass may still be sold.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3, paragraphs 1 and 2: what is the price of a Corvanian lantern in Talvera after the 25 percent tariff (before the laboratory test)?
Answer: D
The tariff is 25% of $40 = 0.25 x 40 = $10, so the price becomes $40 + $10 = $50, which is more than the $46 lantern made in Talvera. Choice A adds 25 dollars instead of 25 percent. Choice B subtracts the tariff instead of adding it. Choice C is only the tariff, not the new price.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 3, paragraphs 1 and 3: Corvany used to import 3,500 tons of cocoa beans from Talvera, and the quota now allows 2,000 tons. By about what percent must these imports fall?
Answer: A
The fall is 3,500 - 2,000 = 1,500 tons, and 1,500 / 3,500 x 100 = 42.9%, about 43%. Choice B divides by the new amount (1,500 / 2,000) instead of the starting amount. Choice C is 2,000 / 3,500, the share that is still allowed in. Choice D divides 3,500 by 2,000.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 2, what did Britain's Orders in Council do?
Answer: B
Paragraph 2 says the Orders in Council "instituted a blockade of French-controlled Europe" and let the British navy seize ships that broke it. Choice A describes Napoleon's Berlin Decree, which "forbade trade with Britain," so it mixes up the two orders. The paragraph mentions no tax (C), and the war went on (D).
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 3, why was the embargo extremely unpopular in New England?
Answer: D
Paragraph 3 says the embargo "was extremely unpopular in New England, where the economy was heavily dependent on trade with Britain." Stopping trade hit that region hard. Choices A, B and C are not in the paragraph; C mixes in the earlier problem of ship seizures, which the source does not give as the reason.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A country puts a high tariff on imported steel. What is the most likely effect on that country's car makers, who buy imported steel?
Answer: A
A tariff raises the price of the imported steel, so businesses that use it as a part pay more, and they may pass some of the cost on in higher car prices. Choice B reverses the effect: taxing foreign steel makes it more expensive, not cheaper. Choice D is wrong because the importer pays the tariff, whether a family or a business.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use the table. From 1808 to 1809, the years in which the embargo ended and a new law began, by about what percent did U.S. exports rise?
Answer: B
Exports rose from 22.4 to 52.2 million dollars: (52.2 - 22.4) / 22.4 x 100 = 29.8 / 22.4 x 100 = 133%. Choice A divides by the new amount (29.8 / 52.2). Choice C reads the 29.8 million dollar change as a percent. Choice D is 52.2 / 22.4 = 2.33 written as 233%, which compares the amounts instead of finding the change.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which statement does the 1805-1810 trade table support?
Answer: C
Exports were 108.3 million dollars in 1807, more than in 1805 (95.6), 1806 (101.5), 1808 (22.4), 1809 (52.2) or 1810 (66.8). Choice A is false because imports also fell, from 138.5 to 57.0. Choice B is false because exports were 22.4 million in 1808, not zero. Choice D is false because 52.2 million (1809) is less than 95.6 million (1805).
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 1, paragraph 1, what reason does Jefferson give for stopping American ships from leaving?
Answer: A
Jefferson writes of "the great and increasing dangers with which our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise are threatened" by "the belligerent powers of Europe," the countries at war, and asks to keep "in safety these essential resources." He mentions no tax (B), no shortage of sailors (C) and no plan to boost home goods (D); D confuses the embargo with a policy to protect home industries.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Country X puts an embargo on Country Y. Country Y used to buy most of its wheat from Country X. What is Country Y most likely to do?
Answer: B
When one partner is blocked, buyers usually turn to other partners, even if they are farther away or cost more. This is how a barrier changes trade among nations: it moves trade, not only shrinks it. Choice C confuses an embargo (a ban) with a tariff (a tax). Choice D is impossible under an embargo, which stops trade between the two countries.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, why did Corvany's government set the cocoa quota?
Answer: C
Paragraph 3 says Corvany's government "answered with a quota," right after paragraph 2 describes Talvera's tariff on Corvany's lanterns. A barrier set in response to another country's barrier is called retaliation. Choice B confuses the quota with Talvera's safety rule in paragraph 4, and choice D is the opposite of what a quota does.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Use Source 3. Describe what is likely to happen to trade in each direction between Talvera and Corvany (lanterns going one way, cocoa going the other) after all the new barriers. Use at least one number from the source.
Model answer: Lanterns from Corvany to Talvera: the tariff and the laboratory test make a Corvanian lantern cost more than the $46 Talveran lantern, so Talveran buyers will probably buy fewer of the 60,000 lanterns Corvany used to sell them. Cocoa from Talvera to Corvany: the quota cuts the amount from 3,500 tons to no more than 2,000 tons, so Talvera's cocoa farmers lose sales. Trade between the two countries shrinks in both directions, and some of Corvany's cocoa trade moves to Pellora. Rubric: 1 point for the lantern direction with a reason; 1 point for the cocoa direction with a number; 1 point for noting that trade shrinks both ways or moves to Pellora.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Jefferson (Source 1, paragraph 3) and the Office of the Historian (Source 2, paragraph 3) judge the embargo differently. Describe each judgment, then use one number from the trade table to support or question one of them.
Model answer: Jefferson says the embargo, despite the "privations" it caused, saved "our mariners and our vast mercantile property" and avoided both war and giving in. The Office of the Historian says the British economy "was not strongly affected" and that the embargo was hard to enforce. The table shows U.S. exports falling from 108.3 to 22.4 million dollars, about 79%, so the embargo clearly cut American trade; that supports the view that Americans paid a high cost, though the table cannot show how much Britain was hurt. Rubric: 1 point for Jefferson's judgment; 1 point for the historian's judgment; 1 point for a correctly used number tied to one judgment.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Name two trade barriers that are created by governments and one that is not. Explain the difference between the two kinds.
Model answer: A tariff and a quota are created by governments: a government decides to tax imports or to limit them, and it can change or remove them. Distance (or an ocean, or mountains) is not created by a government; it comes from geography and raises the cost of shipping no matter what any government decides. (Embargoes, product rules and subsidies also count as government barriers; different languages and different money count as other barriers.) Rubric: 1 point for two correct government barriers; 1 point for one correct natural or other barrier; 1 point for explaining that one kind is chosen by a government and the other is not.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 3, paragraph 3: Corvany's chocolate makers still want their usual 3,500 tons of cocoa a year, and they buy whatever the quota does not allow from Pellora. (a) Find the delivered cost of one ton (price plus shipping) from each country. (b) How much more will the cocoa from Pellora cost in a year than the same amount from Talvera? (c) Which kind of barrier explains the difference in shipping cost?
Model answer: (a) Talvera: $2,700 + $40 = $2,740 a ton. Pellora: $2,650 + $150 = $2,800 a ton. (b) The quota leaves 3,500 - 2,000 = 1,500 tons to buy from Pellora. $2,800 - $2,740 = $60 more per ton, and 1,500 x $60 = $90,000 more a year. (c) Distance, a natural barrier: Pellora is across the ocean, so shipping costs much more even though its cocoa itself is cheaper. Rubric: 1 point for both delivered costs; 1 point for 3,500 - 2,000 = 1,500 tons and $90,000; 1 point for naming distance as a natural barrier.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Source 3, give one argument a supporter of Talvera's tariff on lanterns might make and one argument an opponent might make. Then say what extra information would help you weigh the two arguments.
Model answer: A supporter might say the tariff protects the jobs of Talvera's lantern makers, who said they were losing customers (paragraph 2). An opponent might say the tariff raises the price families and stores pay for lanterns, and that it led Corvany to answer with a quota that hurts Talvera's cocoa farmers (paragraphs 2 and 3). Useful information: how many jobs the lantern makers have compared with the cocoa farmers, and how many families buy lanterns. Rubric: 1 point for a supporter's argument from the source; 1 point for an opponent's argument from the source; 1 point for relevant information to weigh them. Any position is acceptable if it is supported.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 2, paragraph 3, says the Non-Intercourse Act replaced the embargo in early 1809. (a) How was it different from the embargo? (b) Use the table to describe what happened to exports in 1809 and 1810.
Model answer: (a) The embargo stopped all foreign trade; the Non-Intercourse Act allowed trade with other nations except Britain and France, so it was a narrower embargo aimed at two countries. Source 2 adds that it too was very hard to enforce. (b) Exports rose from 22.4 million dollars in 1808 to 52.2 million in 1809 and 66.8 million in 1810, but they stayed well below the 108.3 million of 1807. Rubric: 1 point for the difference between the two laws; 1 point for the rise in exports with numbers; 1 point for noting that exports stayed below the 1807 level.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Eco.14.6-8 mean?
D2.Eco.14.6-8 asks middle school students to explain barriers to trade and how they change trade between countries. The full text is "Explain barriers to trade and how those barriers influence trade among nations." Students must do two things: say what each kind of barrier is, and explain its effect on prices, the amount traded and which countries trade with each other.
What are the main barriers to trade students should know for D2.Eco.14.6-8?
Tariffs, quotas, embargoes, product rules (standards), subsidies, and natural or other barriers. The first five are chosen by governments. Natural barriers, such as distance, oceans and mountains, and other barriers, such as different languages and different money, are not chosen by anyone but still add cost.
What is the difference between a tariff and a quota?
A tariff taxes imports; a quota limits how many can come in. With a tariff, any amount may be imported but each item costs more, and the government collects the tax. With a quota, the amount is capped, and with less for sale the price tends to rise, but the government collects no tax unless it also sells import licenses.
Why does this lesson use the Embargo of 1807?
Because it is a clear, well-documented case where one barrier changed trade a great deal, and the official numbers exist. U.S. Census Bureau figures show exports falling by about four fifths in a single year. Students can also read the president who asked for the embargo and a government historians' summary of how it worked out, so they meet more than one view.
Does this lesson tell students whether trade barriers are good or bad?
No. The indicator asks students to explain barriers and their effects, not to judge them. The lesson gives the reasons supporters offer (protecting jobs, safety, national security, pressure on another government, revenue) and the costs critics point to (higher prices, fewer choices, retaliation), and the rubrics score reasoning and evidence, not a position.
Is the scenario about Talvera and Corvany real?
No, Source 3 is an invented scenario about fictional countries. The prices are made up but realistic. It lets students practice a tariff, a quota, a product rule and the cost of distance in one place without bringing a current political debate into the classroom.
What math do students need for this lesson?
Percents and percent change, at the level of 7.RP.A.3. Students find a percent of a price (a tariff), find a percent change from a starting amount, and compare costs. A common slip is dividing by the new amount instead of the starting amount, so the lesson models the formula (new - old) / old x 100.
How does D2.Eco.14.6-8 connect to D2.Eco.15.6-8?
D2.Eco.14.6-8 explains what barriers are and how they change trade; D2.Eco.15.6-8 goes on to weigh the benefits and costs of trade policies for individuals, businesses and society. This lesson touches costs and benefits only to show that people disagree; the full weighing belongs to D2.Eco.15.6-8.
How can I check that students understand, not just memorize the names?
Ask for the whole chain, not the label. A student who understands can say what changes at the border, what happens to the price or cost, and what happens to the amount traded or to the trading partners. The exit ticket and the short-answer questions in the quiz are built around that chain.
What comes next in high school?
In grades 9-12, D2.Eco.14.9-12 asks students to analyze comparative advantage: why countries gain by specializing and trading even when one country is better at making everything. Knowing what barriers do prepares students to see what is lost when trade based on comparative advantage is blocked.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Eco.14.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
D2.Eco.1.6-8Prerequisite
Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses and society
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
