Bilateral trade
Topic: Globalisation and MNCs · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation: An Appraisal"
Meaning
Bilateral trade is trade between two countries. The word also covers agreements that those two countries sign to make trade between them easier. Bilateral deals are useful when two countries want to cut barriers faster than global talks allow. WTO agreements aim to ease both bilateral trade and multilateral trade.
Example
Suppose India sells steel to China and buys toys from China. That exchange is bilateral trade between India and China. An agreement between just these two countries to lower duties on each other's goods would be a bilateral trade agreement.
Don't confuse with
- Multilateral trade: trade and trade rules among many countries at once, as under GATT or the WTO.