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# Carrying Trade

# Carrying Trade

## Definition

The trade that transacts the commerce of foreign countries or carries the surplus produce of one country to another country. Carrying trade involves acting as an intermediary between different nations, facilitating international exchange without necessarily producing or consuming the goods being traded.

## Source Chapter

Book II, Chapter 5

## Context

Smith identifies carrying trade as the least beneficial form of trade for a country's productive labour, arguing that it withdraws capital entirely from supporting domestic productive labour to support foreign productive labour. He emphasizes that carrying trade's benefits accrue primarily to the merchants rather than to the productive capacity of the country.

## Economic Domain

Exchange

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