This chapter reviewed the subject of international trade. After a brief summary of the theories developed to explain the reasons for international trade and the benefits derived from it, some of the reasons for and forms of official intervention in international trade were identified. Despite both academics' and practitioners' assurances that restricting international trade is to nobody's benefit, governments have created and will continue to develop numerous schemes to minimize the exposure of their industries and their labor to external disturbances.
The chapter considered the importance of international trade for the world community. Though it is not a truly representative descriptor of the contemporary global scene, the ratio of international trade to GDP is considered to be a good measure of a country's dependence on the rest of the world.
The almost $3 trillion of international trade in goods and services is not equally shared among the countries of the world. A small number of countries, the so-called G-7, account for over half of the world's trade, even though combined they represent barely 15% of the world's population. This imbalance, coupled with the fact that international financial transactions and trade dominate global economic dealings, makes for an uncertain future.
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