Foreign trade is the relationship of the State with other states, peoples and nations from a commercial angle. In other words, it is the management of the Ummah’s commercial affairs from a foreign angle. This policy should be based on specific fundamentals, and it should adhere to. The nations’ viewpoints about foreign trade vary according to the various viewpoints they hold about life, and each nation would therefore determine her relationships with foreign nations accordingly. A nation’s viewpoint about foreign trade would also vary according to her viewpoint about her own economic interests, aimed at achieving economic gain.

We note therefore, that to the Socialists, the foreign trade relation is based on their Socialist viewpoint about developing the world. For, although they observe economic gains, they classify the commodities according to the countries they deal with. They would attempt to sell to Syria for instance, farming equipment, fertiliser, medicines, industrial equipment for manufacturing of consumable goods, such as cheese and clothing, as well as ploughing equipment and the like. This, in their view, would help the progress towards capitalism. If they imported any commodities, they would only import that which improves the production, and that which they need, although this practice is at present, diminishing. This in fact is in contrast to the policies of the capitalist countries, such as Britain for instance, who always looks for material gain, placing the concept of expediency at the heart of her foreign trade policy. She would sell commodities to all peoples and nations as long as it achieves economic gain. As for the American policy of restricting trading with Russia and China to specific types of commodities and of a total ban on other types, this is not related to the viewpoint, rather to her war policy. This is because she considers these two countries potentially belligerent states, even though they are not effectively at war with her. Apart from this, the American trade policy is based on expediency.

However, western economists have held different viewpoints about foreign trade and as a result, various schools of thought have emerged, some of these are the following: