Philip Levy posted the below to AEI's blog a few weeks ago:

The revised GDP numbers came out last week and things look a bit brighter, despite persistent unemployment. After the economy shrank at a –5.4 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 and then at a –6.4 percent rate in the first quarter of this year, the newly reported second quarter dip of –0.7 percent looks relatively mild. So what’s behind the numbers? Must be the stimulus, right? Well, no. The actual hero is something of a surprise...

Last year, exports grew while imports shrank. Trade served as a shock absorber, making the impact of the year’s events less painful than it would otherwise have been...exports and imports. Combined, they were the biggest driver of economic growth, accounting for 1.65 percent. This requires a little interpretation, since both exports and imports actually shrank, but imports shrank much more than exports. This means that, for a given level of consumption, we produced at home.

All of this calls into question the administration’s approach to managing the economy. The president has embraced stimulus spending and shunned trade. He adopted new tire tariffs on the eve of a global summit, has endorsed violations of American trade agreements, and has failed even to seek authority to negotiate the new global WTO deal he pledged to pursue...The president’s supporters laud his ability to take in facts, set aside ideology, and formulate a pragmatic response. An embrace of international trade would be a refreshing change.

The related chart below though not in the blog post was contained in AEI's October Economic Update email. The role of trade is clear, now if only our trade policies could be.