And, simultaneously, by artificially increasing domestic supply, the same export restrictions advantage Chinese manufacturing consumers of those materials.

FORBES: WTO Slap At China Export Restrictions Belied By U.S. Import Curbs

They argue that the legal export trade from Canada is being taken advantage of by criminals who use false Canadian permits to export the pelts from around two hundred Russian bears each year.

BBC: Polar bear trade ban 'too close to call'

However, the two most important questions to be answered are: is the export market large enough to make up for the dip in domestic coal demand, and how long will it take for companies in the U.S. to be able to take advantage of the export markets?

FORBES: Can Coal Exports Markets Make Up For Domestic Coal's Plunge?

We know that trade secret theft can cripple a company's competitive advantage in foreign markets, diminish export prospects around the globe, and put American jobs in jeopardy.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

American multinationals that spend money adjusting to European rules may lose their taste for lighter domestic regulations that may serve only to offer a competitive advantage to rivals that do not export.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

In 2008, for instance, when the European Union restricted Brazilian meat, alleging breeders weren't complying with EU traceability measures, JBS took advantage of its Australian subsidiary to export to Europe. (Brazilian beef exports to the EU resumed in 2009.) No Brazilian meat producer can export cuts to the U.S. because of U.S. safety rules.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Canada has already won a case against Brazil in the World Trade Organisation, arguing that Brazil's export subsidies give Embraer's planes an unfair advantage in international markets.

BBC: Americas jet trade row escalates

For one, as emerging markets compete to export to the United States, no one wants to surrender what it perceives to be its competitive advantage.

FORBES: The Two Faces Of Ben Bernanke

Due to widely varying country conditions, some African economies can take advantage of favorable wages and natural resources and benefit from taking timely measures to develop and export manufacturing goods.

CNN: Opinion: Could Africa be world's next manufacturing hub?

Back in the world of floating exchange rates, countries wishing to have a trading advantage can manipulate their currency to be low and thereby have ultra-competitive prices for export goods.

FORBES: We're All Currency Manipulators These Days