On the next issue I will be giving away an electronic book on internet marketing you would not like to miss, so get ready. The economic case for an open trading system based upon multilaterally agreed rules is simple enough and rests largely on commercial common sense. The data show a definite statistical link between freer trade and economic growth. Economic theory points to strong reasons for the link. Economics tells us that we can benefit when these goods and services are traded.
Firms do exactly that quite naturally on the domestic market.
Most firms recognize that the bigger the market the greater their potential - they can expand until they are at their most efficient size, and they can have access to large numbers of customers. But success in trade is not static. The ability to compete well in particular products can shift from company to company when the market changes or new technologies make cheaper and better products possible. Experience shows that competitiveness can also shift between whole countries. A country that may have enjoyed an advantage because of lower labor costs or because it had good supplies of some natural resources, could also become uncompetitive in some goods or services as its economy develops.