Fill Blank question 1/1:
Read the passage and answer the questions below.
Reading passage 2
The vast expansion in international trade owes much to a revolution in the business of moving freight
International trade is growing at a startling pace. While the global economy has been expanding at a bit over 3% a year, the volume of trade has been rising at a compound annual rate of about twice that. Foreign products, from meat to machinery, play a more important role in almost every economy in the world, and foreign markets now tempt businesses that never much worried about sales beyond
their nation's borders.
What lies behind this explosion in intemational commerce? The general worldwide decline in trade bamers, such as customs duties and import quotas, is surely one explanation. The economic opening of countries that have traditionally been minor players is another. But one force behind the import-export boom has passed all but unnoticed: the rapidly falling cost of getting goods to market.Theoretically, in the world of trade, shipping costs do not matter. Goods, once they have been made.are assumed to move instantly and at no cost from place to place. The real world, however, is full of frictions. Cheap labour may make Chinese clothing competitive in America, but if delays in shipment lie up working capital and cause winter coats to arrive in spring, trade may lose its advantages.
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