对外贸易是国家在商业层面上与其他国家、民族和民众之间的关系。换言之，它是从对外角度管理乌玛商业事务的工作。这一政策应当以特定的基本原则为基础，并且必须遵循这些原则。各民族对对外贸易的看法因其对生活所持的不同观点而有所不同，因此每个民族都会据此确定其与外国之间的关系。一个民族对对外贸易的看法，也会因其对自身经济利益的看法不同而有所变化，其目的在于获取经济收益。

Foreign trade is the relationship of the State with other states, peoples and nations from a commercial angle. In other words, it is the management of the Ummah’s commercial affairs from a foreign angle. This policy should be based on specific fundamentals, and it should adhere to. The nations’ viewpoints about foreign trade vary according to the various viewpoints they hold about life, and each nation would therefore determine her relationships with foreign nations accordingly. A nation’s viewpoint about foreign trade would also vary according to her viewpoint about her own economic interests, aimed at achieving economic gain.

我们因此注意到，对社会主义者而言，对外贸易关系建立在其关于发展世界的社会主义观点之上。因为，尽管他们看到了经济收益，却会根据与之交易的国家来划分商品。例如，他们会试图向叙利亚出售农业机械、化肥、药品、用于生产消费品（如奶酪和服装）的工业设备，以及犁具等类似物品。在他们看来，这将有助于推动向资本主义的进步。如果他们进口任何商品，也只会进口那些能够改进生产以及他们所需要的商品，不过目前这种做法正在减少。这实际上与资本主义国家的政策形成对比，例如英国，她始终追求物质利益，把权宜之计置于其对外贸易政策的核心。只要能够获得经济利益，她就会向所有民族和国家出售商品。至于美国对与俄罗斯和中国的贸易实行的政策，即将贸易限定在特定类型的商品上，并全面禁止其他类型，这与其观点无关，而与其战争政策有关。这是因为她认为这两个国家有潜在的交战可能，尽管它们实际上并未与她处于战争状态。除此之外，美国的贸易政策同样建立在权宜之计的基础上。

We note therefore, that to the Socialists, the foreign trade relation is based on their Socialist viewpoint about developing the world. For, although they observe economic gains, they classify the commodities according to the countries they deal with. They would attempt to sell to Syria for instance, farming equipment, fertiliser, medicines, industrial equipment for manufacturing of consumable goods, such as cheese and clothing, as well as ploughing equipment and the like. This, in their view, would help the progress towards capitalism. If they imported any commodities, they would only import that which improves the production, and that which they need, although this practice is at present, diminishing. This in fact is in contrast to the policies of the capitalist countries, such as Britain for instance, who always looks for material gain, placing the concept of expediency at the heart of her foreign trade policy. She would sell commodities to all peoples and nations as long as it achieves economic gain. As for the American policy of restricting trading with Russia and China to specific types of commodities and of a total ban on other types, this is not related to the viewpoint, rather to her war policy. This is because she considers these two countries potentially belligerent states, even though they are not effectively at war with her. Apart from this, the American trade policy is based on expediency.

然而,西方经济学家对对外贸易持有不同的观点,因此形成了各种不同的学派,其中包括以下几种:(请查看下一篇文章)

However, western economists have held different viewpoints about foreign trade and as a result, various schools of thought have emerged, some of these are the following: (check next article)