Trade Worker Exchange
Living and learning abroad in its current form is largely limited to young people attending university. However, considering that 63% of Americans lack a bachelor's degree (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022), the majority of Americans are not even faced with this opportunity. There are alternatives, such as Australia's holiday working visa, but these don't include the assurance of job security on return and are age-restricted. The narrowness of these pathways makes it impossible or impractical for the average trade worker over the age of 30.
Bridging that gap, the U.S. Department of State should sponsor a transatlantic exchange program for trade workers to increase cultural exchange, creating a new pathway for millions of Americans to spend extended time abroad.
A trade exchange would be a practical way for adults in a trade field to experience life abroad with greatly reduced complexity and financial hardship. For the worker, they are guaranteed employment in their domain for the duration of the stay—so participants who have loans or a mortgage will be able to keep those financial commitments—and meanwhile at their original worksite, their job is secure and temporarily filled by a visiting worker who is also participating in the exchange.
Imagine: American electricians exchanging with German counterparts for 3-6 months, or American wheat farmers swapping with those from New Zealand or (one day) Ukraine.
Learning how a given trade is done in another country would be one valuable outcome of this program, but the most important outcome goes well beyond exchanging practical tips or adventuring. More than industry, a civic aspiration to build international relationships undergirds this program. I've felt the impact of such cross-cultural experiences firsthand. I grew up in rural Vermont, but now—nearly four years after moving to France—life in Europe constantly causes me to reconsider how I think. One of the core reasons for this is because living here long term has liquified all sorts of barriers that are otherwise solid during short, vacation-style visits. Indeed, this program depends on a central belief that time spent in community opens hearts and minds.
During her tour with the German Marshall Fund's Whistlestops for Ukraine, a diplomatic outreach initiative, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States described the agricultural similarity between her home and Iowa during her stop in Des Moines. In my view, this comparison is right, and having those farmers spend time living together is just an extension of her thinking.
Bulgarian political scientist, Ivan Krastev, warns in his book After Europe that when the working class feels abandoned by technocratic globalists, autocratic leadership begins to look more appealing. An exchange program like this one provides a grounded, human-scale response to that challenge, building lasting bridges between individuals. And crucially, its impact would not hinge on the goodwill of leadership that can change sharply between governing administrations. Even under an administration disinterested in global cooperation, the ties forged between individuals would persist. Under this model of citizen-led diplomacy, the world would have a path to peace that is resilient, inclusive, and deeply democratic.
