Introduction

Alex Boome:

Hi everyone, I'm Alex Boome, Trade Education Program Director at the Hinrich Foundation. Today, we're in discussion with Dr. Nuntana Udomkit. She's the author of International Trade Essentials, An Integrated Approach Across Business, Economics, and Law, published by Routledge. Our conversation today will explore why international trade is relevant to everyone.

We'll look from just daily consumers to global firms, to sovereign nations. We'll look at how integrated business, economics, and law gives us a complete picture of global commerce. And we'll also examine how international trade can drive sustainability, inclusive growth, and a better future.

Author Nuntana is Associate Professor of Business Administration at Mahidol University International College, Thailand. She holds a PhD in economics and International Development from the University of Bath. Alongside a law degree and specialized certificates in international trade law. Prior to academia, she gained extensive experience at the Bank of Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce, and in legal practice. She now teaches courses in trade policy, regulations, and internationalization strategy. Nuntana, thank you for joining us.

Nuntana Udomkit:

Thank you, Alex, and thank you, Hinrich Foundation. It's a true pleasure to be here.

Big Idea & Origin Story

Alex Boome:	Thank you. I'll start with the broadest question behind the book. In our conversation, you've mentioned that the book is a fingerprint of its author's mind. I find that profound. We'd love to learn what inspired you to write International Trade Essentials, please.
Nuntana Udomkit:	I think the book is a fingerprint of the author. The inspiration to write this book comes from two folds. First, I wanted to write a book that is simple, easy to understand, and relevant. That is the first objective. Second, I wanted to explain international trade in a more integrative approach, so we understand the holistic picture. Let me address the first objective. I want a book that is simple, clear, and relevant. By doing so, I structured the content around the simple question of why. Why is it important from an individual level to a firm level, to the country level? Why do laws and regulations matter? And to conclude the book, why do we have to care about sustainability in international trade? It starts with why, so people can relate. At the beginning of each chapter, I include a short opening box to relate everyone to the significance of the topic they are going to learn. I keep everything simple and easy to understand. The second inspiration is the integrative approach to looking at trade. I combine the perspectives of business, economics, and law. Moving from being a practitioner to academia, I noticed a missing link when we teach international trade. If you enter law school, it's one approach. Economic school is a little bit more abstract. Business school is also different. We need a comprehensive approach to international trade. That was my dream book.
Alex Boome:	With those different aspects, you really provide a fresh lens and a new perspective on how people can look at international trade, and how teachers can teach it as well.
Nuntana Udomkit:	Yes, I am very fortunate that my educational and work backgrounds allow me to combine these perspectives. In real life, if you run a business or act as an exporter-importer, you cannot separate these things. You cannot say you are only dealing with the legal part of international trade. It is a comprehensive picture. That was my inspiration.
Alex Boome:	Thank you. I also noted that you shared with me that you wish this book was available when you were studying, so I'm sure it will help other people on their journeys.
Nuntana Udomkit:	Because I was in different schools, the way they teach is so different. Some books are too easy, and some are too complicated. They take different angles. In law school, you study things very seriously from a legal standpoint. Business school is a little bit different. However, you cannot run a business without knowing laws and regulations. We can discuss later why we need to pay attention to those regulations.

Why Does International Trade Matter? (Individual, Firm and Country Levels)

Alex Boome:	I'm looking forward to that. If we could start by looking at the core question: why does international trade matter? You bring together the first three dimensions of your book, scaling from the individual consumer to overall global business strategy, and then to national economies. I'd like to start at the individual level. You propose a very provocative opening question in Chapter 1: can we imagine a future without international trade? Could you touch on how trade is woven into our everyday lives, and how globalization has reshaped daily commerce?
Nuntana Udomkit:	In the beginning, I thought this question might be too simple. However, I realized that many people take it for granted and do not observe how much we rely on international trade. Think about when you wake up. The alarm clock is part of your mobile phone, which comes from hundreds of suppliers across the world. For example, Samsung might produce in Vietnam and distribute globally. Then you drink coffee; the beans might come from Colombia, but it is a Japanese brand. You drive your car to work and use your laptop. It is all about international trade. The way you eat, the food you have, and whatever is available in your supermarket is tied to it. Take Singapore as an example; it relies heavily on import and export items. This simple question stimulates a thought about how much we rely on international trade. Many people think of container ships, trade policy, or complicated trade figures, but you don't have to go that far to realize our reliance on it.
Alex Boome:	There's also the whole aspect of international services, not just the goods trade.
Nuntana Udomkit:	Exactly. If you look at the figures for trade in goods and services, trade has never been less important in our entire history. Comparing last year's figures to 1950, after World War II, we can see that trade value has increased 450 times. Trade volume has increased 45 times. Its significance has never reduced; it is always going up.
Alex Boome:	It seems to be getting more complicated and complex as we move forward, though I know you offer ways to smooth out some challenges later in the book. Trade impacts our lives from waking through sleeping. Moving to the next level at the firm, you outline this global trade ecosystem and internationalization strategies. When businesses decide to expand cross-border, what are some of the critical decision-making questions they face? Also, could you touch on how micro and macro risks interconnect to potentially disrupt operations?
Nuntana Udomkit:	When a firm internationalizes its business, it does not just enter the market alone; it deals with the entire global trade ecosystem. Looking at the holistic picture, you have international organizations like the WTO, World Customs Organization, or regional integration offices like the European Commission or ASEAN. Then you have the national government level where all the regulators are. Finally, you have trade facilitators and the private sector. Regardless of who you are, we are all part of this mechanism. When firms expand internationally, they must deal with these different stakeholders. There are many benefits that come with internationalization from a firm's perspective, which business schools discuss heavily. It brings benefits like market diversification, potentially more revenue, more profit, and risk diversification. However, it also comes with costs and risks, which are related to the mode of entry. Besides thinking about the benefits, it is equally important to consider the costs and risks. Risk is the most challenging thing in the 21st century. There are macro-level risks you cannot control, such as political change, conflict, natural disasters, or economic crises. These are linked with micro-level risks. For instance, if a government announces sanctions and we cannot trade with each other anymore, the macro-level cascades down to the operational level. That is a very challenging issue we see frequently in the media.
Alex Boome:	You mentioned the mode of entry into new markets. Could you touch on what approaches and options are available to firms that you cover in the book?
Nuntana Udomkit:	For a small SME in Thailand, the most popular mode of entry is naturally linked with their capability, resources, and how much risk they can take. This explains why the majority of Thai entrepreneurs start simply as exporters. Exporting allows you to control your risk to a certain level. Setting up a subsidiary abroad might not be possible for an SME because they may lack the money, resources, personnel, or knowledge of destination regulations. There are several modes of entry, and nowadays, you can mix and match. You can start small, and things can evolve. Ultimately, you have to evaluate and determine how much cost and risk you can bear.
Alex Boome:	A lot of smaller firms are now entering foreign markets through e-commerce, which is a growing area. You mentioned the supranational level, like the WTO, and then the government and regulator level. Could you touch on the challenges a firm might face in dealing with regulations? Are regulations aligned across countries, and what are the challenges firms face when they are misaligned?
Nuntana Udomkit:	I would like to separate things into two levels of firms. Big corporations have extensive resources to conduct market research and analyze a market. For SMEs, we are talking about a different world. Sometimes you hear about market demand in a specific country, and you might mistakenly conceptualize that market demand equals market access, which is not true. I will confess a mistake from my time as a junior trade officer at the Ministry of Commerce. In the early 2000s, my assignment was to find market opportunities in China. We talked to many people and shops in China to see if they were interested in buying Thai products. They said yes, and we created a list of desired products to do business matching with Thai exporters. I was naive and hadn't learned about the regulations. We realized that while they wanted Thai products, they didn't have the license to import them. It became a market access issue. It didn't matter how excited they were about the Thai quality image. In another case, we tried to promote high-end Thai products in the United States. We wanted to find a flagship store location. We found a spot with good traffic, but in the end, we hadn't paid attention to the building regulations.
Alex Boome:	There are so many levels to that, from the government level for licenses right down to the vendor level at the specific location.
Nuntana Udomkit:	I think now we are fully aware of how important it is to learn about regulations. You have to do it in parallel when evaluating market demand. At that time, it was a hard lesson learned.
Alex Boome:	We learned along the way. It comes through in the book that you have a practitioner background, which is very refreshing to see. Zooming out to the nation-state level, trade has great economic significance to most countries. What are some of the benefits and challenges of interconnected countries? Looking beyond the headlines, why do nations want to trade, and what guidance do you offer in the book?
Nuntana Udomkit:	From the nation's perspective, using an economic lens, I would offer two key indicators. The first is GDP, which is a classical measure of how wealthy a country is. If you combine the GDP of every country, you get the world GDP. Looking at the GDP formula, it is calculated from investment, government spending, consumption, plus exports, minus imports. If a country wants to boost its GDP, it has engines to drive it. That is why many countries, including the United States, view trade as a key GDP booster. The second measure is trade openness. This ratio looks at trade in relation to the GDP. The majority of countries rely on trade for approximately 40% to 60% of their GDP. Nowadays, many countries heavily promote trade as a key economic driver. A prime example is Singapore, which sits above 300%. The United Arab Emirates is another example. Countries that rely heavily on international trade must build solid trade infrastructure to provide confidence that their open market is stable. They have to create a solid, homey environment for international trade.
Alex Boome:	Beautiful figures. Sitting here in Singapore looking out to the river and the freighters, we can see how important international trade is. Knowing that many economies are at 40% to 60% and Singapore is at 300%, we live and breathe it every day. You mentioned creating a "homey environment" to help promote trade. Are there examples or guidance in the book for creating that type of environment?
Nuntana Udomkit:	I discuss this in part four regarding regulations. One fact we must consider is that no country exists without trade regulations. In economic theory, there is a spectrum ranging from protectionism—where a country protects its industry and refuses to trade—to a free trade regime. In reality, there is no 100% free trade or 100% protectionism. For example, we do not want illegal drugs entering the country, so we implement measures to maneuver trade to meet our policies. The government determines which trade mechanisms to use, such as tariffs, quotas, or sanctions, to deliver their desired outcomes.
Alex Boome:	Awesome. We'll dig into this a bit more, but could you touch on the non-tariff barriers that countries use?
Nuntana Udomkit:	When we look at trade barriers, we have tax measures like tariffs and non-tax measurements. Nowadays, we see more non-tariff barriers (NTBs). It depends on the logic and rationale behind them. Every country wants to protect certain sensitive industries; we cannot deny that fact. Governments exercise instruments like quota limits to protect local industries. In Thailand, if we got rid of all taxes and tariffs, we could import German cars at super cheap prices. However, we have a local industry here, and the logic is that we need to protect jobs. Similarly for agriculture, if we opened up for 100% free trade, Thai farmers could not compete with Chinese products because the costs out there are far cheaper. Whether right or wrong, there are reasons behind these instruments. Once you understand why a government implements such a policy, it makes sense. The private sector's job is to understand and adjust.

Why International Trade Laws and Regulations Matter

Alex Boome:	Absolutely. Moving into part four, the legal and regulatory framework is an under-integrated dimension in studies. You're talking about the challenge of moving physical goods and services across borders, complex customs clearance formalities, regulatory compliance, and shared risks between trading partners. Could you bring together this legal and regulatory framework and talk about the specific paperwork involved, such as the bill of lading?
Nuntana Udomkit:	The term international trade implies crossing a border. Crossing a border comes with regulations about allowing a product to leave or enter a country, so we deal with differences in laws. This is a bottleneck for those just starting a business who may not be aware of these issues. In this part, I emphasize clarity. Both parties must clearly understand their obligations, product specifications, and which documents to prepare. We need to be clear about who is responsible for each process and understand the solutions if something goes wrong. A minor mistake can cause delays, legal penalties, or quality control issues. Once you have awareness about the legal consequences, you will be more careful in the process. I touch on the issue of Incoterms because it's important for exporters and importers to understand their responsibilities. Trade terms indicate who bears costs and at what point the risk transfers from the exporter to the importer. This helps calculate pricing and understand who bears the risk if damage occurs during transportation. I also cover customs formalities so parties understand who manages the process, required licenses, document requirements, duties, tax payments, and inspections. Finally, I talk about key contracts. We don't expect everyone to be a lawyer, but you need some sense of what to be careful about in a contract.
Alex Boome:	Good. Regarding documentation, do you have any insight into what's happening with the digitization of trade documents in your teaching or advisory work?
Nuntana Udomkit:	In Thailand, we are moving toward the digitization of documents. It is improving, but there are still a number of documents where you must contact the relevant authority to get them issued. More documents are being issued digitally, which reduces time and costs for the private sector.
Alex Boome:	With your practitioner background, what are some of the risks you see in this transition from paper to digital? What would you advise your students to look out for?
Nuntana Udomkit:	Ultimately, countries must be good places for trade, which involves trade facilitation. As regulators, they check on national security, but simultaneously, they want to promote trade. The role of custom officers dealing with international trade has changed from being difficult to contact, to offering easier access and advice. I see this development as a positive thing. In the past, UN data compared which countries offered the fastest customs clearance processes. That speed becomes a unique selling point for using a country as a hub for production and distribution.
Alex Boome:	That suggests going into national policy—the government's vision on where they want to stand and how they want to compete internationally.
Nuntana Udomkit:	Yes, that is a form of competitiveness a country can build.
Alex Boome:	Great. I have a question about your teaching work. What areas are students most challenged by with this integrated approach, and what causes their "aha" moments regarding International Trade Essentials?
Nuntana Udomkit:	I try to encourage students to use business common sense. In the past, they might study just to pass the exam and then forget everything. I have to refresh their memory and relate everything back to reality, instead of leaving them with abstract economic theories. Once they connect the theories to real-world consequences, like the legal penalties of using the wrong Incoterm, they understand it much better. Even if they don't remember the exact terminologies, getting the concept right is what matters. Nowadays, they can search for everything, so memorization is not essential.

Why Sustainable Trade Matters & Future Outlook

Alex Boome:	That's a good transition into the future because you're dealing with the next generation. In your forward-looking section on sustainability and future trade policies, you argue that trade should not be measured by growth alone, but by what it leaves behind. This aligns with the Hinrich Foundation's mission. Could you explain how international trade can serve as a vehicle for environmental sustainability, social justice, and inclusive development?
Nuntana Udomkit:	The final chapter conveys my hope, and I wholeheartedly believe that sustainability is important and trade can be an instrument to drive it. In the past, we looked at the success of trade at the national level through GDP, growth, and export-import figures. For firms, we looked at profit and market share. Now, we know that is not enough. People are asking if your business is good for the community, if you take care of workers, and if there are illegal practices involved. You cannot escape the truth of the 21st century. We see the rise of the ethical consumer; people want to buy good, organic products and support communities if possible. We also have Voluntary Sustainability Initiatives implemented by the private sector, such as CSR programs, voluntary sustainability reports, ethical sourcing, and ISO certifications. Additionally, there are more legal frameworks pushing sustainability. In Europe, regulations like CBAM, supply chain due diligence, and IUU regulations translate expectations into legal requirements. We now have a continuously improving governance system for sustainability.
Alex Boome:	I'd like to ask you to comment on the greenwashing aspect of voluntary reporting. What are your thoughts on this, and how would you address greenwashing with your students?
Nuntana Udomkit:	This is a common question from the new generation. My bottom line is that a little bit of improvement is better than nothing at all. Even if companies are forced by a system to be good, it is still better. We need a system that helps align people's practices. In the past, a company might want to be good, but without a system in place, bad players could take advantage of their less competitive costs. A proper mechanism complements and supports these efforts, which is the best outcome we can get.
Alex Boome:	What are some examples of best practices or cases you've shared with your class regarding ethical trade?
Nuntana Udomkit:	In Thailand, I work with several small community projects that support communities through trade, where you can see the actual impact. For larger corporations, I don't see how things work internally, but I observe the output and outcomes of their initiatives. For example, the media often highlights how IKEA improves its supply chain or how Marks and Spencer deals with ethical sourcing. I take these reports at face value, but from my standpoint, it is already a positive step that somebody is working on it. At the very least, we are moving toward the same direction of taking care of our trade systems, supply chains, and sustainability.
Alex Boome:	I'm hearing and seeing that the younger generation is interested in holding firms more accountable. They're asking if initiatives are true or just greenwashing. It's a good thing that people are working on this, and the younger generation reading your book will hold them accountable, right?
Nuntana Udomkit:	When you are in contact with the young generation, there is always something new to learn from their perspective. It is interesting when they say they don't easily trust that a firm is inherently good.
Alex Boome:	It keeps it fresh. Do you have any recommendations regarding sustainable and ethical trade for the regulators drafting policy? We discussed work at the firm level and certain frameworks like CBAM from Europe, but what should regulators be looking at?
Nuntana Udomkit:	Regulators and businesses wear different hats and have different responsibilities, but we are all in the same international trade ecosystem. To make international trade better and build a good home for it, we must understand the holistic picture. Regulators focus on designing and enforcing policy, while businesses focus on operating and achieving success. If we understand each other better, we will have better policies and implementation. Having worked in the public sector before, I have to defend public officers too. Under public law, officers can only do things if the law explicitly allows them to do so. This prevents government officers from abusing their power, but it also highlights why we need good laws. When I worked closely with exporters and importers, they often complained about complicated custom regulations. We could hear their complaints, but we lacked the authority to change anything across different departments. Ultimately, if we want to improve the trade ecosystem, we have to do it together.

Key Takeaway

Alex Boome:	Words of wisdom. Breaking down silos and bringing people together on these issues is crucial. What are the main learnings you've taken from writing this book? Bringing your practitioner, legal, and professor backgrounds together, did anything surprising come out during the exercise of writing?
Nuntana Udomkit:	Number one, writing a book is not easy. You have to maintain discipline, do extensive research, and focus on self-development. My inspiration was to write a book that is unique, simple, yet meaningful by combining multiple perspectives to be as holistic as possible. This book isn't perfect; I could have integrated the social dimension of trade or political economy, but given my limitations, this is the best I can offer. I hope readers will understand international trade from different angles and from the individual level to the firm level, and why countries compete on trade. I hope they grasp why regulations matter, and why we need clear, transparent, predictable, and reasonable trade policies for businesses to follow. If we build a better understanding from different angles, I believe sustainability will come on autopilot because we do not want to destroy international trade. We want it to be sustainable and last for future generations.
Alex Boome:	That is a beautiful summary and a wonderful hope for the world and the trade community. I'll bring our trade book talk to a close now. I trust this has been helpful for everyone learning about International Trade Essentials direct from the esteemed author. Nuntana, thank you very much for joining us and for your rich insight. Just before we break, what is the next book you're working on?
Nuntana Udomkit:	This book touches on breadth, so perhaps in the future, I will go for depth. I haven't thought about it yet; I need a break.
Alex Boome:	Okay. We thank you for the support you're giving to the trade community and your students. We look forward to having a conversation once your next book is out. Thank you very much.
Nuntana Udomkit:	Thank you, Alex, and thank you, Hinrich Foundation, for a wonderful event. Thank you to the participants and audience for your interest. I hope you find the book useful and fun to read.