Trade  is a film directed by  Marco Kreuzpaintner, who previously created the film  Sommersturm, which Roland Emmerich saw and made him want to work with Kreuzpaintner.

Trade  is based on a New York Times Magazine cover story about sex-trafficking in the United States. The story entitled The Girls Next Door  was written by  Peter Landesman and generated much discussion about sex slavery in the U.S. when it was first published in January 2004. An online version of the article can be purchased from the New York Times Archive.

The project was formerly known under the working title Welcome To America  which later became a tagline for the film. The tagline on the new US poster is "You'll pay for this."

Trade  was shot in Mexico and the United States. The film was released in the U.S. on September 28, 2007 and on October 18 in Germany.