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Kingjoe97034 t1_ixoj8ye wrote

It isn’t countries doing this. It is companies. Just because a company has access to a resource, and someone in the same country wants that resource, it doesn’t mean they have arranged to sell to the closer buyer. They may have a better deal to sell to someone in another country. The same goes for the buyer. They might have a better seller lined up elsewhere.

It sounds inefficient, but not necessarily, depending on how the supply lines are set up.

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Herpes-in-space t1_ixolob4 wrote

Right, say we're in Herpinastan and I own a salt mine. You own a beef buillion cube company and need salt. Maybe local market conditions dictate you can pay $1 per pound of salt, but Americans will pay $6 per pound if we call it Herpina Sea Salt.

My salt would be exported and you may need to import some.

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Tederator t1_ixql7rt wrote

I read an article many years ago about this, giving the example of Canadians importing American carrots because they look nicer and the US buying Canadian carrots because they taste sweeter.

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dmazzoni t1_ixpfv3h wrote

As a theoretical example: one company in California orders the resource it needs from Mexico. A company in Illinois produces the same resource and sells it to Canada.

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