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PRELIMINARY VERSIONInternational trade creates aggregate welfare gains in the long run. During the process of adjustment to trade, however, workers employed in importcompeting industries might face costs in the form of temporary unemployment or depressed wages. We examine the period of adjustment of the German economy to the increase of trade with China and former Soviet Union countries and focus on the following question: Can redistribution of gains and losses from trade between partners mitigate adverse effects on workers in importcompeting sectors? We find that due to the high level of assortative mating the trade shock affects partners similarly and this restricts the potential for redistribution. Nevertheless, couples can compensate on average 10% of the earnings losses of adversely affected workers by redistribution between partners. We then turn to the distributional consequences and find that the trade shock had a considerable inequality-increasing effect. Intra-household redistribution, however, did not help to dampen this effect. JEL-Classification: F16, J12, J31