International trade involves the exchange of goods and services across national borders. It can occur at both national and international levels. Historically, trade developed from simple barter systems and long distance trade routes like the Silk Road. In modern times, international trade is the basis of the world's economic organization and is driven by factors like comparative advantage and differences in national resources. Major global organizations like the WTO and GATT work to facilitate and regulate international trade between nations.

1. International trade

2. Tradeis the exchange of any goods or
services.
 International trade
voluntary exchange of goods (food grains, fishes,
clothes etc.) or services (banking, transportation
insurance etc.) between or among different
countries.

3. Two levels of international trade :
National
International

4. National trade means exchange of goods &
services within the boundaries of the nation.
International trade means exchange of goods &
services across the boundaries of the nation.

5. Barter system was followed during this time
period where direct exchange of goods take place.
The main demerit of such system was the lack of
needed requirements between the two parties.
TRADE DURING PRIMITIVE TIMES

6. The trading was restricted to local markets because of the risk
in transportation over long distances.
Silk Route is an example Long distance trade connecting
Rome to China for trading along 6,000km.
Fifteenth century onwards, the European colonialism began
and along with trade of exotic commodities, a new form of
trade emerged which was called slave trade.
The Portuguese, Dutch ,Spaniards and the British captured the
African natives and forcefully transported them to the newly
discovered Americans for their labour in their plantations.
HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

7. Slave trade

8. International trade is the result of specialization in
production.
International trade is based on the principle of
comparative advantage,complimentarity and
transferability of goods and services.
In modern times it is the basis of the world’s
economic organization and is related to the foreign
policy of nations.
Why Does International Trade Exist?

9. Basis of International Trade
!) Difference in national resources:
 resources are unevenly distributed because of differences
in their physical make up i.e. geology, relief soil and climate.
 Geological structure: It determines the mineral resource
base and topographical differences ensure diversity of crops
and animals raised. Lowland have greater agricultural
potential. Mountains attract tourist and promote tourism.
 Mineral resources: They are unevenly distributed the world
over. The availability of mineral resources provides the basis
for industrial development .
 Climate: It Influences the type of flora and fauna that can
survive in given region . It also ensures diversity in the range
of various products e.g. wool production can take places in
cold region, bananas, rubber and cocoa can grow in tropical
regions.

10. Population factors: the size, distribution
and diversity of people also affect the trading
between or among the countries.
Cultural the culture of different countries also
affect trading like carpets of Iran are famous and
leather work of North African is also well known.
Size: The highly density countries have large
internal trade and little external trade as most of
their production is consumed in local markets.
 Transportation: as compare to the earlier
times, with the development in the transportation
means like rail, ocean, air etc the trading has also
developed.

11.  stage of economic development : The nature of
goods traded also changes with the change in the
economic development of the nation. The
agriculturally important countries exchange the agro
products for manufactured goods and so the
industrialized nations for food grains.
 Extent of foreign investment : The more and
more foreign investment boosts the trading in
developing countries which lack in capital required
for the development.

12. Aspects of international trade.
Volume of trade: The actual tonnage of goods
traded makes up the volume. However, services traded
cannot be measured in tonnage. Therefore, the total value
of goods and services traded is considered to be the volume
of trade.

13. Direction of trade :Historically, the developing countries of
the present used to export valuable goods and artifacts, etc. which were
exported to European countries.
During the 19TH
century European countries started exporting manufactured
goods for exchange of foodstuffs and raw materials from their colonies.
Europe and U.S.A. emerged as major trade partners in the world and were
leaders in the trade of manufactured goods. Japan at that time was also the
third important trading country.
The world trade pattern underwent a drastic change during the 2ND
half of
the 20TH
century.
Europe lost its colonies while India, China and other developing countries
started competing with developed countries.

14. Composition of trade :
It consists of the nature of good and services which are
exported or imported .
Trade of primary products was dominant in the beginning of
the last century.
Later manufactured goods gained prominence.
currently, though the manufacturing sector commands the
bulk of the global trade, service sector which includes travel,
transportation and other commercial services have been
showing an upward trend.

15. Balance of Trade : It is the record of the total
volume of good and services which are exported and
imported by a country to other countries .
BOT = export + import
Favourable BOT means the value of export is greater than
the value of import of a country.
Unfavourable BOT means the value of import of a country
is greater than the value of its export .

16.  Bilateral trade :Bilateral trade is done by
two countries with each other. They
enter into agreement to trade specified
commodities amongst them.
 For example country A may agree to
trade some raw material with agreement
to purchase some other specified item to
country B or vice versa.
TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
 Multi-lateral trade:
multi-lateral trade is conducted with
many trading countries. The same
country can trade with a number of
other countries.

17. GATT
(GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE AND TARIFF)

18. In 1948 to liberalise the world from high custom tariffs
and other types of restrictions general agreement for
trade and tariff was formed by some countries

19. GATT was transformed into the World Trade
Organization from 1st
January 1995. WTO

20. .
•Deals with the global rules of trade
between nations.
• It sets the rules for the global
trading system.
•Resolves disputes between its
member nations.
•WTO also covers trade in services,
such as telecommunication and
banking, and others issues such as
intellectual rights.

21. DEMERITS OF WTO
It is argued that free trade does not make ordinary people’s
lives more prosperous.
It is actually widening the gulf between rich and poor by
making rich countries more rich
The influential nations in the WTO focus on their own
commercial interests.
Moreover, many developed countries have not fully opened
their markets to products from developing countries.
It is also argued that issues of health, worker’s rights, child
labour and environment are ignored.

22. BENEFITS DRAWBACKS
regional specialisation,
higher level of
production
 better standard of living,
worldwide availability of
goods and services
equalisation of prices &
wages
diffusion of knowledge
and culture
dependence on other
countries
uneven levels of
development
Exploitation
commercial rivalry
leading to wars
INTERNATIONAL TRADE

23. EFFECTS OF GLOBAL TRADE ON
ENVIRONMENT,HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF PEOPLE
The use of natural resources spiral up, resources get used
up faster than they can be replenished.
Marine life is also depleting fast.
Forests are being cut down .
River basins sold off to private drinking water companies.
Multinational corporations trading in oil, gas mining,
pharmaceuticals and agri-business keep expanding their
operations at all costs creating more pollution – their mode of
work does not follow the norms of sustainable development.

24. REGIONAL TRADE BLOCS
Regional Trade Blocs have come up in order to encourage trade between countries
with geographical proximity, similarity and complementarities in trading items and to
curb restrictions on trade of the developing world.
Today, 120 regional trade blocs generate 52 per cent of the world trade. These
trading blocs developed as a response to the failure of the global organisations to
speed up intra-regional trade.
Though, these regional blocs remove trade tariffs within the member nations and
encourage free trade, in the future it could get increasingly difficult for free trade to
take place between different trading blocs.

25. REGIONAL BLOC HEAD
QUARTER
MEMBER
NATIONS
ORIGIN
ASEAN
(Association of South East Asian Nations)
Jakarta,
Indonesia
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore,Thailand,Vietnam
1967
CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent States)
Minsk,
Belarus
Armenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,
Georgia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova,Russia,Tajikistan,Turkme
nistan,Ukraine andUzbekistan
--------
EU
(European Union)
Brussels,
Belgium
Austria, Belgium,Denmark,
France, Finland,Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands,Luxemburg,Portugal,
Spain,Sweden and U.K.
1992
LAIA
(Latin American Integration Association)
Montevideo
Uruguay
Argentina,brazil,Bolivia,Columbia,
equador,Mexico,Paraguay, Peru,
Uruguay and Venezuela
1960
NAFTA
(North American Free Trade Association)
U.S.A., Canada And Mexico 1994
OPEC (oil & petroleum exporting
countries)
Vienna,
Austria
Algeria,Indonesia, Iran,Iraq,
Kuwait,Libya, Nigeria, Qatar,
SaudiArabia,U.A.E.,Venezuela
1949
SAFTA(South Asian free trade agreement) Bangladesh,Maldives,Bhutan,
Nepal, India,Pakistan and Srilanka
2006

26. GATEWAYS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

27. GATEWAYS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
S OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Ports
The chief gateways of the world of international trade are the
harbours and ports.
Cargoes and travellers pass from one part of the world to
another through these ports.
The ports provide facilities of docking, loading, unloading and
the storage facilities for cargo.
In order to provide these facilities, the port authorities make
arrangements for maintaining navigable channels, arranging
tugs barges, and providing labour and managerial services.

28. Types of Port
ACCORDING TO CARGO HANDLED
Commercial
Ports:
These ports handle
general cargo-
packaged products
and manufactured
good. These ports also
handle passenger
traffic
Industrial Ports:
These ports specialise
in bulk cargo like grain,
sugar, ore, oil,
chemicals and similar
materials.
Comprehensive
Ports:
Such ports handle
bulk and general
cargo in large
volumes. Most of the
world’s great ports are
classified as
comprehensive ports.

29. COMMERCIAL PORT INDUSTRIAL PORT

30. TYPES OF PORT ON THE BASIS OF LOCATION:
Inland Ports:
These ports are located away from
the sea coast. They are linked to the
sea through a river or a canal.
For example, Manchester is linked
with a canal; Memphis is located on
the river Mississippi; Rhine has
several ports like Mannheim and
Duisburg; and Kolkata is located on
the river Hoogli, a branch of the river
Ganga.
Out Ports: These are deep
water ports built away from the actual
ports. These serve the parent ports by
receiving those ships which are
unable to approach them due to their
large size.
for example, is Athens and its out port
Piraeus in Greece

31. Types of port on the basis of specialised
functions:
1.Oil Ports:
These ports deal in the processing and shipping of oil. Some of
these are tanker ports and some are refinery ports.
Maracaibo in Venezuela, Esskhira in Tunisia, Tripoli in Lebanon
are tanker ports. Abadan on the Gulf of Persia is a refinery port.
(ii) Ports of Call:
These are the ports which originally developed as calling points
on main sea routes where ships used to anchor for refueling,
watering and taking food items. Later on, they developed into
commercial ports. Aden, Honolulu and Singapore are good
examples.
.

32. (
(iii) Packet Station: These are also known as ferry ports. These packet
stations are exclusively concerned with the transportation of passengers
and mail across water bodies covering short distances. These stations
occur in pairs located in such a way that they face each other across the
water body, e.g. Dover in England and Calais in France across the English
Channel.
(iv) Entrepot Ports: These are collection centres where the goods are
brought from different countries for export.
•Singapore is an entrepot for Asia.
•Rotterdam for Europe
•Copenhagen for the Baltic region.
(v) Naval Ports: These are ports which have only strategic importance.
These ports serve warships and have repair workshops for them.
Kochi and Karwar are examples of such ports in India.

33. SINGAPORE ENTREPORT
NAVAL PORT

34. I LEVEL ASSIGNMENT
What is balance of trade?
What are trade blocs?
Name the countries constituting OPEC.
Why sea ports are called gateways of international trade
What is port of call?
What are packets stations?
Why was silk route so called?
When was SAFTA formed? Name any two member nations of SAFTA .
When was ASEAN formed and where is it’s headquarter located?
II LEVEL ASSIGNMENT
Explain three important aspects of international trade.
Explain with examples the major concerns related to international trade.
Explain any three types of ports on the basis of specialized location.
What are the benefits of forming trade blocs to the concerned countries?
Distinguish between bilateral and multilateral trade .
III LEVEL ASSIGNMENT
State any three basis of international trade.
“Trade is the basis of world economy in the modern times”. Justify the statement with suitable
examples
What is world trade organization why has it been criticized and opposed explain any four reasons
Why is it detrimental for a nation to have negative balance of trade?
“International trade is a barometer of the economic development of a country “explain this
statement.

35. ACTIVITY
Locate and label on the world map
•Main seaports of the world
•Ports on the west coast of india
•Ports on the east coast of india
•Newly developed ports to relieve pressure on Mumbai and Chennai port.
PROJECT
Collect information about the following regional trade blocs
1.ASEAN
2. SAFTA
3. OPEC
Prepare a presentation on the working and functioning of WTO.
(hints-establishment, advantages,disadvantages,criticism)