Hi Harry,



Those are fair questions.



Of course, there are two paths for countries to choose;



Re: Your Question #1:



"Why, given the size of the population in a country such as China, is there a need or them to export? Surely there are enough people in that country that a market for any goods produced is readily available, and that the production of such goods will be profitable because of the size of that market."



Brief Answer for Question #1:



a) Isolationism is where the country does not engage in any meaningful international trade.



This has been tried in the past, and it has been found that nations pursuing this policy lost ground vs. the nations that *did* engage in international trade.



It's not that their economies didn't progress -- it's just that every economy that engaged in international trade progressed faster.



b) Free trade where the country freely trades goods and services with other nations (and this is a big one) also allows other nations to invest in their economy -- much as Toyota spending billions of dollars in the North American economy to build auto assembly plants (usually building them during our recessions) that provided many thousands of jobs for unemployed GM, Ford and Chrysler workers.



In short; International trade is a net benefit for almost every country, especially when viewed over decades.



Re: Your Question #2:



"Why should any country be concerned about the ability to transfer assets around the world without restriction? Surely those assets should be used to facilitate the civil society in which they were created. Not transferred for use in another country, particularly ones as large as China and India."



Brief Answer for Question #2:



You're assumption that 'country A' can produce everything it needs is incorrect.



Countries like Switzerland, don't have any oil and gas reserves. If the citizens of that country want to drive modern vehicles, they need to import oil and gas.



(Nowadays, they could buy EV's and just plug them in every night, but what about tourists that may want to drive their own vehicles through the countryside? And what about transport trucks and buses?)



Import gas and oil for transportation use, or ride your horse, was basically the deal in Switzerland for decades.



Another point: Some countries have a high tech sector and can readily build their own computers, etc. but some don't have that level of technical expertise, even in the 21st century.



Taiwan did the world a huge favour by taking a computer chip that was designed in the U.S. and manufacturing it cheaper, faster, and with higher quality than any country in the world.



Because of this specialization, Taiwan was able to build a booming economy from nothing and capture almost the entire global market share of computer chips, due to economies of scale and a sterling reputation.



Every computer in the world is much cheaper to purchase, on account of Taiwan's astounding performance in the computer chip business.



It's not only Taiwan. Every country has products or services that it can produce or offer -- at a significant advantage relative to other countries.

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For another example: If you want fresh pineapple or bananas, you're going to be buying from countries that can reasonably produce those items at a reasonable cost, even when shipping costs are factored in. If you live in Iceland or Norway, you can't produce those items at a reasonable cost.



Therefore, international trade is a bonus for consumers as it lowers the price and raises the quality of goods and services, relative to each country producing everything it needs on its own.

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It is also a bonus for shipping companies and oil and gas producing nations, as you can imagine.



To give you some idea of how big the global shipping industry is, it is handy to look at its overall CO2 emission levels.



The global shipping industry emits 2% of the worlds CO2 emissions -- even since most ships have converted to super-clean natural gas power, instead of burning hideously dirty 'bunker fuel'.



The global aviation industry also emits 2% of the world's CO2 emissions -- and now, many airlines and air cargo carriers are burning biofuel blends that lower emissions by up to 80%.



See the Boeing biofuel program: http://www.boeing.com/principles/environment/index.page



Now to put it in context:



Canada, with 36 million people emits 2% of the world's CO2 emissions.



South Africa, with 53 million people emits a little over 2% of the world's CO2 emissions.



So you can see that shipping and non-military aviation are large beneficiaries of international trade, and provide millions of jobs to citizens around the world.



And consumers, businesses, and industry can purchase larger quantities, a wider range of products, and at higher quality -- all at a lower price.



That is the short list of positives to support international trade.



Now we need to do a little more work on making 'free' trade 'fair' trade.



But that's a topic for a different day. :)



Best regards, JBS