ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by global trade,

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the interplanetary alien exchange system.

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[ oo-ee-oo ]

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All right, take a look at this excerpt.

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[ mumbles ]

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Trade within North America, compared to U.S. trade with the Middle East,

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has been... what?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ] All right.

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First up, let's figure out the difference between

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trade within North America and U.S. trade with the Middle East.

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If you look at the excerpt,

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NAFTA increased volumes of trade and investment

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within North America.

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That's some big business right there.

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Now think about U.S. trade with the Middle East.

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We know that region is rich with oil,

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and since the U.S. has an age-old affair with fossil fuels,

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that exchange is probably a bit stickier.

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Let's see which answer can best describe these differences.

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Compared to U.S. trade with the Middle East,

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has trade within North America been A -

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relatively more strained due to disagreements about the terms of NAFTA?

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Well, based on our thinking above, trade within North America

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is definitely less strained than

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that of the Middle East. You know, good neighbors and all.

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So that takes down A and B.

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Has trade within North America been C -

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relatively less strained due to ongoing conflict

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between Canada and Saudi Arabia?

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Hmm. Canada doesn't have any specific

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conflict with Saudi Arabia that we know about.

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Which means that, compared to U.S. trade with the Middle East,

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trade within North America has been D -

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relatively less strained due to U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.

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Fossil fuels may be hundreds of millions of years old,

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but they still impact our lives today in a very real way.

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U.S. dependence on fossil fuels has been a sore subject

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for many reasons, a major one being that it made the U.S.

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dependent on foreign trade, especially with the oil-rich Middle East.

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So D is the right answer.

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In the last few years though, domestic fuel production

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has increased dramatically, lessening U.S.

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dependence on foreign oil. Talk about a gas problem.

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[ chuckles ]

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[ hissing ]

Full Transcript