International trade is vital to the well-being of the international market. No textbook suited virtually every nation, because no nation is my purpose, so I set about to write one. capable of satisfying its material needs beyond the subsistence level entirely from domestic My first task was to define my terms-tar­ iffs, non-tariff barriers, shipping terminology, resources. As a nation's technology advances and edu­ etc. As this labor progressed over many cational levels improve, heavy industry and months, it became evident there was need for manufacturing are often supplanted by serv­ an encyclopedic reference work which fo­ ice industries, as evidenced by the economies cused upon international trade. My enquiries of Europe, North America, and Japan. The having divulged no similar work in English, I shift to a service economy increases import decided to concentrate efforts upon an reliance, especially in the areas of consumer encyclopedia. products and basic industrial commodities, In selecting entries, it was my intention to such as steel. This transition creates opportu­ provide the reader with a cross section of nities-in the form of new markets and lower terminology of the various aspects of interna­ unit costs-but also begets confrontation as tional trade-marketing, taxation, shipping, lower priced imports displace domestic work­ law, accounting, etc. Each entry, it is hoped, is ers, and charges of unfair competition congeal sufficiently descriptive to define the topic ade­ into protectionist policies. quately, without extraneous detail or digres­ Unfortunately, the process of international sion.