The topic of free trade is central to several of the podcast episodes provided, as debates around free trade and protectionism were key issues in historical elections like the 1906 UK General Election, as well as in more recent policy shifts such as the trade war between the US and China under the Trump administration and continued by the Biden administration.

For example, the episode 'UK General Elections: 1906' discusses how "debates around free trade and protectionism were central issues in the 1906 campaigns", while the episode 'How Biden Adopted Trump's Trade War With China' examines how Biden has largely continued Trump's protectionist trade policies with China, marking a departure from longstanding American support for free trade.

The episode 'Caught in a trap: Mathias Döpfner's call for free trade' focuses specifically on a proposal by the CEO of Axel Springer for a new approach to free trade that would incentivize tariff-free trade between democracies, in response to growing concerns about the geopolitical competition between democracies and autocracies.