Trade with communist countries : yes or no?

Expert InsightsPublished 1964

A discussion of three possible national policies on trading with Communist countries: (1) the traditional free-trade position, which holds that political or other noncommercial considerations should be kept to a minimum; (2) a policy of complete trade denial, which attempts, on moral or strategic grounds, to deprive an enemy of all trade opportunities that might increase its economic strength; and (3) a policy of selective trading, which assumes that free trade in certain goods might help to make an enemy less aggressive internationally or less oppressive at home. The author argues that these alternatives oversimplify the problem, because none is completely valid in all circumstances, and he raises a number of specific questions that might better be asked in deciding whether to use trade policy for noneconomic purposes. He offers answers in the case of trade with the Soviet Union and Cuba.

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Trade with communist countries : yes or no? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1964. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P2912.html.
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