Indiana Social Studies GE.4.3

Social StudiesGrades 9–12World Trade

The Standard

Explain how governments and cartels/syndicates influence world trade.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how tariffs, quotas, and subsidies change trade across borders. They also explain how cartels can limit supply and how selling syndicates combine sales to bargain for better prices.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given a steel import tariff, a student identifies the importer who pays it and predicts why imports might fall. Given an agreement among oil sellers to cut output, they predict less oil for sale and a likely price rise.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think the exporting country pays an import tariff, though importers pay it at the border and may pass the cost to buyers. They may confuse an agreement among sellers with a government limit on imports.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A country adds a $2 tariff to imported coffee, and a group of coffee sellers limits exports. For each action, name who made the decision and predict one effect on price or trade volume.

Lesson moves

Use paper coffee beans and buyer bids for three auctions: baseline, $2 import tariff, seller supply cap; record prices and sales.
Write two sentences: Who pays an import tariff at the border, and how might a sellers' price agreement change what shoppers pay?
Deal pairs four cards: tariff, import quota, export subsidy, seller price pact; have them match each to a likely trade effect.
Compare an OPEC oil output announcement with a gas price chart; mark the date and name one other cause of price changes.

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