What Is International Trade? If you walk into a supermarket and are able to buy South American bananas, Brazilian coffee and a bottle of South African wine, you are experiencing the effects of international trade.International trade allows us to expand our markets for both goods and services that otherwise may not have been available to us. It is the reason why you can pick between a Japanese, German and American car. As a result of international trade, the market contains greater competition and therefore more competitive prices, which bring a cheaper proct home to the consumer.What Is International Trade?International trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries. This type of trade gives rise to a world economy, in which prices, or supply and demand, affect and are affected by global events. Political change in Asia, for example, could result in an increase in the cost of labor, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs for an American sneaker company based in Malaysia, which would then result in an increase in the price that you have to pay to buy the tennis shoes at your local mall. A decrease in the cost of labor, on the other hand, would result in you having to pay less for your new shoes.Trading globally gives consumers and countries the opportunity to be exposed to goods and services not available in their own countries. Almost every kind of proct can be found on the international market: food, clothes, spare parts, oil, jewelry, wine, stocks, currencies and water. Services are also traded: tourism, banking, consulting and transportation. A proct that is sold to the global market is an export, and a proct that is bought from the global market is an import. Imports and exports are accounted for in a country's current account in the balance of payments. (For more on this, see the articles What Is The Balance Of Payments? and Understanding The Current Account In The Balance Of Payments.)Increased Efficiency of Trading GloballyGlobal trade allows wealthy countries to use their resources - whether labor, technology or capital - more efficiently. Because countries are endowed with different assets and natural resources (land, labor, capital and technology), some countries may proce the same good more efficiently and therefore sell it more cheaply than other countries. If a country cannot efficiently proce an item, it can obtain the item by trading with another country that can. This is known as specialization in international trade.Let's take a simple example. Country A and Country B both proce cotton sweaters and wine. Country A proces 10 sweaters and six bottles of wine a year while Country B proces six sweaters and 10 bottles of wine a year. Both can proce a total of 16 units. Country A, however, takes three hours to proce the 10 sweaters and two hours to proce the six bottles of wine (total of five hours). Country B, on the other hand, takes one hour to proce 10 sweaters and three hours to proce six bottles of wine (total of four hours).But these two countries realize that they could proce more by focusing on those procts with which they have a comparative advantage. Country A then begins to proce only wine and Country B proces only cotton sweaters. Each country can now create a specialized output of 20 units per year and trade equal proportions of both procts. As such, each country now has access to 20 units of both procts.We can see then that for both countries, the opportunity cost of procing both procts is greater than the cost of specializing. More specifically, for each country, the opportunity cost of procing 16 units of both sweaters and wine is 20 units of both procts (after trading). Specialization reces their opportunity cost and therefore maximizes their efficiency in acquiring the goods they need. With the greater supply, the price of each proct would decrease, thus giving an advantage to the end consumer as well.Note that, in the example above, Country B could proce both wine and cotton more efficiently than Country A (less time). This is called an absolute advantage, and Country B may have it because of a higher level of technology. However, according to international trade theory, even if a country has an absolute advantage over another, it can still benefit from specialization. (For a review of some of these economic concepts, see the Economics Basics tutorial.)Other Possible Benefits of Trading GloballyInternational trade not only results in increased efficiency but also allows countries to participate in a global economy, encouraging the opportunity of foreign direct investment (FDI), which is the amount of money that indivials invest into foreign companies and other assets. In theory, economies can therefore grow more efficiently and can more easily become competitive economic participants.For the receiving government, FDI is a means by which foreign currency and expertise can enter the country. These raise employment levels and, theoretically, lead to a growth in the gross domestic proct. For the investor, FDI offers company expansion and growth, which means higher revenues.Free Trade vs. ProtectionismAs with other theories, there are opposing views. International trade has two contrasting views regarding the level of control placed on trade: free trade and protectionism. Free trade is the simpler of the two theories: a laissez-faire approach, with no restrictions on trade. The main idea is that supply and demand factors, operating on a global scale, will ensure that proction happens efficiently. Therefore, nothing needs to be done to protect or promote trade and growth because market forces will do so automatically.In contrast, protectionism holds that regulation of international trade is important to ensure that markets function properly. Advocates of this theory believe that market inefficiencies may hamper the benefits of international trade and they aim to guide the market accordingly. Protectionism exists in many different forms, but the most common are tariffs, subsidies and quotas. These strategies attempt to correct any inefficiency in the international market.ConclusionAs it opens up the opportunity for specialization and therefore more efficient use of resources, international trade has potential to maximize a country's capacity to proce and acquire goods. Opponents of global free trade have argued, however, that international trade still allows for inefficiencies that leave developing nations compromised. What is certain is that the global economy is in a state of continual change and, as it develops, so too must all of its participants. 假如你走进超市，并能买到南美喷鼻蕉，巴西咖啡跟一瓶南非葡萄酒，你所碰到的影响国际贸易。国际贸易使我们可能扩大年夜我们的市场，商品跟效劳，不然可能不供给给我们。这就是为什么你可能挑选之间日语，德语跟美国车。因为国际贸易，市场包含更大年夜的竞争，因此更存在竞争力的价格，由此带来更便宜的产品供给给花费者。什么是国际贸易？国际贸易是交换之间的货物跟效劳的国度。这品种型的贸易惹起了世界经济，在这种价格或供给跟须要，影响跟影响的全球性活动。政治变更，比方，亚洲可能会招致本钱增加的休息力，从而增加了出产本钱为美国的耐克公司总部设在马来西亚，然后招致价格上升，你不得不花钱购买在网球鞋在你外地的烦忙烦忙。在增加的休息力本钱，另一方面，将招致你不须要付出较少为你的新鞋。贸易在全球范畴跟国度为花费者供给的机会接触到商品跟效劳不供给在本人的国度。多少乎每一种产品可能在国际市场：食品，衣服，整机，石油，珠宝，葡萄酒，股票，货币跟水。效劳也是买卖：游览，金融，征询跟运输。产品销往全球市场的出口，跟一种产品，是购买的全球市场是一个进口。进口跟出口都是以一国的常常账户的国际进出。 （欲懂得更多对于这个，请参阅文章什么是国际进出均衡？跟懂得现在帐户进出均衡。 ）进步效力，在全球范畴内的买卖全球贸易容许富饶国度利用它们的资本-无论是休息，技巧或资本-更有效力。因为国度付与了差其余资产跟天然资本（地皮，休息力，资本跟技巧），一些国度可能产生同样的好，因此更有效地销售更便宜比其他国度。假如一个国度不克不及有效地产生一个项目，它可能获得该项目标贸易与其他国度可能。这就是所谓的专业化的国际贸易。让我们来一个简单的例子。 A国跟乙国毛衣都出产棉花跟葡萄酒。 A国出产10毛衣跟六瓶葡萄酒，而乙国出产6毛衣跟10瓶葡萄酒一年。既可能产生，共有16个单位。 A国，但是，须要3个小时出产10毛衣跟两小时内产生的6瓶葡萄酒（共5个小时） 。 B国，另一方面，须要一小时出产10毛衣跟三个小时的出产六瓶葡萄酒（共4个小时） 。但是这两个国度认识到，他们可能出产更多的是侧重于这些产品，他们存在绝对上风。 A国然后开端只出产葡萄酒跟乙国只出产棉花毛衣。每个国度现在可能创建一个专门的产出20个单位，每年的贸易同等比例的两种产品。因此，每个国度现在已进入20个单位的这两种产品。我们可能看到那两个国度的机会本钱，出产这两种产品是大年夜于本钱的专业。更具体而言，每个国度的机会本钱，出产16单位都毛衣跟葡萄酒为20单位的两种产品（买卖）。专业化降落其机会本钱，因此，最大年夜限制地进步其效力获取他们所须要的货物。跟着更多的供给，每个产品的价格将降落，从而有利于终极花费者以及。请留神，鄙人面的例子中，国度B可能同时出产葡萄酒跟棉花比国度更有效的（更少的时光）。这就是所谓的绝对上风，乙国可能是因为较高的技巧程度。但是，根据国际贸易现实，即便一个国度拥有绝对上风，其余，它仍然可能受益于专业化。（检察其中的一些经济不雅点，请参阅经济学基本知识教程。 ）其他可能的好处的买卖在全球范畴内国际贸易的成果，不只进步了效力，并且也使国度参加全球经济，鼓励的机会，本国直接投资（ FDI ） ，这是的金额，团体投资于本国公司跟其他资产。从现实上讲，经济增加因此可能更有效，也更轻易成为有竞争力的经济参加者。为接收当局，本国直接投资是一种手段，外汇跟专门知识可能进入该国。这些进步赋闲程度，从现实上讲，招致经济增加在国内出产总值。为投资者，本国直接投资供给了公司扩大年夜跟增加，这意味着更高的收入。自由贸易与保护主义至于其他的现实，有支持看法。国际贸易有两种一模一样的见解程度的把持放在贸易：自由贸易跟保护主义。自由贸易是简单的两种现实：一种任其自然的方法，不任何的贸易限制。重要的主意是，供给跟须要的要素，在全球范畴运营，将确保产生出产效力。因此，不什么须要做，以保护或促进贸易跟市场力量的增加，因为如许做将主动。与此相反，保护主义认为调理国际贸易重要的是要确保市场的正常运作。主意这一现实认为，市场的低效力可能妨碍国际贸易的好处，他们的目标是领导市场响应。保护主义存在于很多差其余情势，但最罕见的是关税，补贴跟配额。这些战略打算，以改正任何效力不高在国际市场上。结论因为它开辟了专门的机会，因此更有效地利用资本，国际贸易的潜力最大年夜限制地发挥一个国度的才能，以出产跟收购货物。支持者的全球自由贸易的主意，但是，国际贸易仍然容许效力低下分开开展中国度的侵害。可能断定的是，全球经济正处于一直的变更，因为它的开展，也必须在其全部与会者。