Surplus countries should allow and reinforce expansion in their domestic economies to stimulate demand for imports while deficit countries were supposed to tighten domestic conditions and policies to stimulate exports relative to imports.
Beijing keeps the yuan, as the renminbi is informally known, artificially low both to give its exporters substantial price advantages and to protect its domestic industry from imports.
This domestic supply displaced imports of the same products.
But they also require governments to show reputable scientific evidence in support of their controls, and insist that measures do not discriminate between suppliers, rather than favouring one country's exports over another's, or domestic production over imports.
The central bank, which has kept interest rates high to offset lax fiscal policy, is in a policy bind: even higher rates might attract a destabilising amount of speculative capital, while lower rates would fuel domestic demand and imports, pushing the current-account deficit higher.
That's fine with the Chavez government, which is advocating domestic production to replace imports and employ Venezuelans.
And very importantly, for a number of countries in Asia, it means that domestic consumer demand and imports will increase.
Cheap currencies boost exports, but discourage domestic spending by making imports dearer.
Already the export recovery, combined with a sharp cut in imports as domestic demand has slumped, has brought a huge improvement in some economies' current-account balances.
Rather, a balanced expansion should require America to narrow its trade deficit: manufacturers will have to export a lot more, seize domestic market share from imports, or both.
So it was a pity that Lawrence Summers, America's deputy treasury secretary, felt obliged to complain last week that Japan was doing too little to boost its domestic demand and its imports from America.
Some governments in emerging markets have sheltered their infant car industries behind tariff walls while much of the protection put in place in America and Europe to shelter domestic producers from Japanese imports in the 1980s is still in place.
Although various governments are, spurred on by domestic producer interests, limiting imports to a certain degree.
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And the fact of the matter is domestic production is up and imports are down.
This is a usual seasonal development, which this year is reinforced by high growth in imports underpinned by domestic demand strength.
Not surprisingly, the strength of domestic demand has sucked in imports.
Despite its huge oil and gas reserves, Iran still cannot refine enough petroleum products for domestic demand and depends on imports for 30-40% of its petrol needs.
Importantly for the injury analysis, this period of stability in housing starts and renovation activity enables an analysis that isolates the effects of imports on the domestic industry.
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The bill also sets rules for building more natural-gas storage (as imports replace dwindling domestic supplies) and for developing technology to capture and sequester carbon emissions from fossil-fuel plants.
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The share of domestic manufacturing consumption taken by imports has risen from 31% in 1998 to 37% in 2008, according to Dan Meckstroth of the Manufacturers' Alliance, a trade group.
If imports from China were to have an injurious effect on the domestic industry, one would expect the increasing volume of such imports to drive down prices in the United States.
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He says people here are prejudiced against domestic wine and tend to drink imports.
Because the strong pound has made imports cheap, their domestic factories now carry hefty costs.
Consumers enjoy a wider choice of cheap imports, which spur domestic producers to cut costs and improve efficiency.
Rising income levels have resulted in a rise in domestic consumption, boosting demand for imports for items ranging from cars to electronic goods.
The weak industry conditions saw governments in Europe and North America standing up to protect their domestic solar industries from cheap Chinese imports.
If sustained, this could help to support domestic spending and hence imports.
And, what is more, the German stimulus plan has been good for everyone in Europe, because it has sucked in imports as well as domestic products.
The effect on countries which did not devalue their currencies was that their exporters had additional difficulty, while their domestic businesses were flooded by cheap imports.
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