1. Pronounce the following:

Imports, to import, exports, to export, to flourish, crucial, merchandise, exchange, techniques, expertise, surplus, assets, subsidy, retaliation, specialization, revenue, to complement, legal, deficit, voluntary export restraints, to ensure, vulnerable, protectionism, avalanche, utilization, entrepreneur, macroeconomic scenario, access, biofuel, wheat, drought.

2. Suggest the Russian for the following word combinations.

Lower trade barriers, to hinder the trade process, modern production techniques, to be on the rise, increasing international trade, outsourcing of manufacturing and services, natural resources, free trade areas, advanced transportation system, increased efficiency, self-imposed restrictions, employment level, to hamper the benefits, company expansion and growth, domestic trade, labour-intensive goods, higher revenues, to be restricted to trade in goods and services, voluntary export restraints, to impose import tariffs, to operate on a global scale, trade surplus, mutual gains, merchandise trade, comparative advantage.

3. Suggest the English for the following word combinations.

Гибкая политика в области торговли, сдерживание роста заработных плат и цен, вводить валютные ограничения, эффективное использование имеющихся ресурсов, страны-участницы, ограничение торговли, основа международной торговли, страна-импортер, сокращать тарифы и субсидии, повышать уровень занятости, ограничения на экспорт текстиля, активы страны, “видимая” торговля, отменять квоты, компании, работающие в зоне свободной торговле, прямые зарубежные инвестиции, специализация в международной торговле, активы страны, спрос и предложение, торговый баланс, обеспечить правильное функционирование рынка, дефицит торгового баланса, сторонники теории, количественные ограничения.

4. Complete the text about free trade by completing sentences 1-6 with a-f below.

1. Free trade exists when goods can be traded easily between countries,……………………

2. Protectionism is where countries try to protect home producers .........................................

3. One way they do this is by using tariffs………………………………….

4. Another way is by using quotas which limit ..........................................

5. Domestic manufacturers often complain that foreign competitors ………………………….

6. Exporters, on the other hand, often complain about …………………………

a ... which are a kind of tax on imported goods,

b ... complicated bureaucracy and complex customs regulations,

с ... without restrictions.

d ... the number or quantity of goods that can be imported,

e ... from foreign competition and cheap imports,

f ... try to destroy them by dumping their goods at very low prices.

5. Complete these sentences with the words in italics from ex.4.

1. These new import……………………make our products 50% more expensive.

2. Government…………………….limit the import of luxury cars to just 200 each year.

3. ……………………………………is a very good idea in principle, but in practice we need…………………………..to help domestic manufacturers to survive.

4. This………………..is awful; just look at all these forms we've got to fill in.

5. We can t compete with their prices; they must be………….their goods to put us out of business.

6. US and EU business leaders now need to focus on removing trade barriers between the two blocks rather than aim to create a single……………………………….. area.

7. He said raising prices by increasing ………………..on Japanese luxury cars would give Detroit’s Big Three automakers an excuse to increase their own luxury car prices.

8. The EU warned that South Korea should open up its car market, accusing the country of ………………………………..

9. If the Commerce Department rules that Mexico is …………………….. tomatoes, consumers can expect higher tomato prices because the US will impose ………………… on them, limiting the numbers that can be imported.

READING AND SPEAKING I

Read the article and do the assignments that follow.

Boxed in

Global trade has turned down sharply this year. The outlook is pretty bleak, too

Trade-watchers often look to the oceans to gauge activity. Bustling docks and harbours mean importers and exporters are busy, and trade figures are likely to be strong. At the end of 2011 data from big ports started to turn choppy, fuelling fears of a slowdown that has come to pass. The OECD reports that exports fell by over 4% in the second quarter of 2012 in Britain and India; Russia and South Africa lost more than 8%. That is particularly bad news for places like Singapore and Hong Kong, which are important trade hubs; open eurozone countries like Ireland and Belgium are also highly exposed.

The obvious cause of falling trade is the global economic slowdown. Since exports are sales to foreigners, they tend to weaken when buying power is low. That means trade often tracks global GDP quite closely. At a more granular level, too, the patterns of trade match the fortunes of economies. Since 2011, imports into the stagnant European Union have fallen by 4.5%. In contrast the oil-rich Middle East has increased imports by 7.4%.

If the global economy were the only factor in determining trade, a pick-up in world output would translate automatically into rising trade. TheIMF, for example, thinks that trade will grow by 5.1% in 2013 on the back of a strengthening economy. But the fund's predictions assume that looser policies in the euro area and emerging markets will be successful. If that turns out to be too optimistic then growth, and trade, could undershoot its forecasts. The latest shipping data hold out little hope for a rapid rebound. A survey reported by Lloyd's List on September 5th showed that container volumes from Asia to Europe plunged by 13.2% in the year to July.

What's more, trade does not track business cycles perfectly. Trade has generally grown faster than GDP in recent years, rising from 22% to 33% of world GDP between 1996 and 2008. Its downturn this year has been more pronounced than that of the world economy. That suggests other factors may be at work beyond the pace of global growth.

One candidate is decreased availability of trade finance. Businesses that operate internationally rely heavily on banks. Take exporters. Once they have bought raw materials and other inputs, they must make their products before exporting them to a destination country. They may deliver them to a final buyer before receiving payment. This creates a lag between incurring costs and receiving revenues, a gap bridged by short-term trade-finance loans.

European banks are major players in trade finance. According to a recent World Bank study, large euro-area banks accounted for 36% of global trade finance in 2011. French and Spanish banks alone provided 40% of trade credit to Latin America and Asia. But euro-zone banks have been cutting back their trade-financing operations, according to Jean-Frangois Lambert of HSBC , an international bank.

One reason for this withdrawal is that international trade takes place in dollars, and risky-looking euro-zone lenders are finding it harder to access dollar liquidity. Another is the need for European banks to slim their balance-sheets: trade finance, because of its short-term nature, is easy to prune. Many lenders are also under pressure to concentrate their activities on domestic markets. The likes of HSBC can pick up some of the slack left by departing Europeans. Japanese banks, and local banks in China and Brazil, are also moving to fill gaps. But trade finance is likely to be less abundant than it was.

Increased protectionism may also be starting to drag on trade. In the early phases of this crisis, it seemed that protectionism was one thing the world did not have to fret about: the lessons of the 1930s (avoid trade wars at all costs) had apparently been learned. But the number of new trade disputes is ratcheting up to a level that is beginning to look worrying. Argentina is involved in a host of arguments. America, India and China are embroiled in a spat over steel. On September 4th Brazil said it would raise tariffs on 100 products. The risk, according to Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia University, is that commitment to free trade could flag.

Even if a new round of protectionism can be avoided, ambitions to liberalise trade further are disappointingly limited. The 11-year-old Doha round of global trade negotiations, which could add 0.5% a year to global GDP by opening up new markets, is as good as dead. In its place a tangle of regional deals has emerged. The hope is that the most promising elements of Doha can somehow be revived in a new deal. An agreement on "trade facilitation" (cutting red tape at borders) would more than offset the petty protectionism of some G20 members. But the tide of support for free trade is ebbing.

The Economist, September 2012

NOTES

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD; the World Bank) – Международный банк реконструкции и развития (МБРР; Мировой или Всемирный банк), главным образом кредитует развивающиеся страны на рыночных условиях под правительственные гарантии.

2. Lloyd’s List – “Лист Ллойда”: ежедневная газета, в которой публикуются передвижения судов во всем мире.

3. Doha round – Первый раунд многосторонних торговых переговоров в рамках ВТО получил название Доха раунд по имени столицы Катара, где проходила Четвертая конференция министров стран-членов ВТО в ноябре 2001г., на которой было принято решение об открытии этого раунда. После июля 2005г. в переговоры включена тема упрощения процедур торговли.