The world is more interconnected than ever before: we rely on each other and share with each other, for the benefit of each other. 

Foreign foods line supermarket shelves from Beijing to Shanghai, and Chinese products are sold in every corner of the globe. 

But there are forces that want to undermine the progress which globalization has facilitated, people who don't accept the positives of a system that has helped so many to rise from poverty to better lives. 

The Trump administration is threatening to break a system that – though not perfect – has created common prosperity and delivered choice as well as opportunity. 

Forget the economic theory. Forget the rights or wrongs of those who want to turn clock back. And think, what would the impact be on your daily life if we did go back in time?

Phones, food, clothes, entertainment from around the world – could you handle living in a country that doesn't enjoy the fruits of globalization?   

We challenged one person from Shanghai and another from Spain to try living one day without foreign products – and film it. Chinese-only goods for Jiang Qichen in Shanghai, nothing made in China for Massimo in Spain. 

So how did the men, thousands of kilometers apart, get on? 

Mundane acts suddenly became a challenge. Brushing teeth isn’t a simple task. For Massimo, there aren’t many choices in his wardrobe. Qichen’s daily snacks are no longer an option. 

“I can’t work!” Massimo cries as he sits down at his desk. “It’s difficult!”

“Chinese products cannot exist in isolation from those of the rest of the world,” says Qichen, “and those in the rest of the world cannot live in isolation from this of China.”

This is a microcosm of the disruption attempts to curtail globalization could create. 

Things we take for granted might no longer be simple – and the broader economic consequences could be catastrophic.

Globalization has brought the world together, and the transfer of goods – whether Massimo’s laptop or Qichen’s toothpaste – have helped made individual lives richer and draw each of us a little closer. 

The system isn’t perfect, it has delivered for many but not for all. But we live in a world of shared opportunity and development – we can make the system better – there’s no reason to risk the pursuit of common prosperity.