International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has existed throughout history (for example Uttarapatha, Silk Road, Amber Road, scramble for Africa, Atlantic slave trade, salt roads), its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries. Carrying out trade at an international level is a more complex process than domestic trade. Trade takes place between two or more nations. Factors like the economy, government policies, markets, laws, judicial system, currency, etc. influence the trade. The political relations between two countries also influences the trade between them. Sometimes, the obstacles in the way of trading affect the mutual relationship adversly. To avoid this, international economic and trade organisations came up. To smoothen and justify the process of trade between countries of different economic standing, some international economic organisations were formed. These organisations work towards the facilitation and growth of international trade and some work to compete.
Production jobs in developed countries are moving to lower cost locations such as South America and China. Globalization and the relocation of production allows for lower-cost production which benefits the consumer with lower prices and thus leading to an increase in purchasing power which the American dream is all about isn't it? It comes at the cost of lost jobs in the production sector in home countries which leaves people with a lack of options for other employment.
Corporations spend great effort into setting up stranglehold trade agreements with 3rd world countries. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank ensure that third world countries have to open their markets, while the 'free market western economies' set up fences around theirs. The set up is such that NO jobs are available in third world industries, apart from the ones created by western companies, who pay scarcely over cost-price to the producers, while making record profits on selling their goods to rich westerners. In a true free-market, those third world countries would have an equal change at exporting their OWN products to the West, which would result in profit being made by the third world producers. However, there are tax-barriers where it's okay for the third world to export their raw materials (hence all the oil-export, fruits and vegetables) but where the amount of import-tax on end-products (such as phones, computers, cars, etc.) is so high that it makes their products by default noncompetitive.
The only exceptions to this rule are companies that have head-quarters in the US or the EU region. The current struggle within the EU is actually quite a good example of how badly globalization works. It works for Capital (which can move freely and generate profits wherever they are to be made) but it leaves weaker countries with enormous trade-deficits and poor quality food that hasn’t passed EU regulations. IMF and World Bank politics and demands are destroying local industries and they're introducing true poverty.
GDP is a poor measure of progress – it increases as we destroy the natural capital of the planet.
We need economic growth, but we cannot continue to measure it using GDP. We need a ‘quality adjusted’ GDP linked to transactions which recognise how much social and natural capital they are building. Although the International Energy Association reported that carbon emissions stabilised for 3 years in the 2014-2016, the best estimates for 2017, which are waiting formal confirmation, are that they increased 2%. This is in the context of Christina Figueres, former chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, together with leading scientists, saying that we have “three years for carbon emissions to peak and drop rapidly to avoid catastrophic climate change”. That was June 2017. We now have two years.
Please have a read the Cases 222 WTO and 188 GATT
