International Trade
Since the end of World War II, international trade has developed
dramatically. All countries in the modern world join in worldwide trade, through
which various sorts of merchandise and (51) materials arc
exported in (52) for foreign currency, which means income
wealth from (53) and job opportunity at home, and in the
meantime, foreign goods are imported to provide consumers with (54)
and welcome merchandise. Today, economic interdependence among
countries is so (55) that no country can close its doors to
the outside world, and the more prosperous the national economy, the more
developed the foreign trade. Economic globalization is now a (56)
in the world.
But in the past when old and new
colonialism ruled the world there was no free and fair trade at all. Powers,
(57) the British empire, the United States, Russia, Japan,
divided the world into their spheres of influence—their colonies or
dependencies, where their businessmen (58) their merchandise
at high prices and bought (59) raw materials and labor at
low prices. (60) of wealth flowed to these powers which then
grew prosperous, (61) the colonies were driven into
destitution (贫困). The national economy of colonies was innately defective. Their
industries could not survive the overwhelming (62) of
imports from the powers. Their monotonous national economy (63)
in production of one or two agricultural crops or (64)
products or minerals, to be sold in international market, for
example, orange and sugarcane in Cuba, banana and coffee in South-America, coal
in Poland, all (65) to supply-demand relation in world
market under control of the powers. Even their customs were governed by
officials from the powers, whose exported goods thus could enter the colonies
nearly duty-free. It was after the collapse of colonialist system all over the
world that free and fair international trade, at least theoretically, could be
possible. |
