GLOBAL TRADE
How It Affects You

"The World Is Getting More Global"

That expression was used in an editorial in Asiaweek magazine of February 26, 1999, which stated: "The world is getting more global, thanks to the free flow of trade, capital, information and technology. . . . The name of the game is inclusion: the more regions and nations are wired into the planet's network, the larger the market for all the world's producers."

It also said: "The meltdowns that swept East Asia, Russia and Brazil [in recent years] have shown that in this economically and technologically integrating world, it makes little long-term sense to build up one region while others founder."

The same article warned against relegating Asia to "economic and political backwaters," reminding readers that "the world's second- and third-largest economies are still Japan and China." It continued: "Asia's sheer population density cannot but become a force to be reckoned with." Asia's billions cannot be ignored. Truly, we live in a global economy, and the trade borders are down.