Imports refer to the products and services produced in another country and purchases in home country. For the receiving country, products are imports and for sending are exports. The imports and exports are two major components of international trade. For any country, if value of imports exceeds exports, the country is said to have trade deficit or negative balance of trade.
Usually countries imports products and services that they can’t manufacture domestically or at cheap cost as the exporting country. For example most of countries imports oil because they can’t produce it domestically or can’t produce adequate to meet their demand. The reliance on imports and free trade agreements between different nations make the way to advance international trade.
The policy analyst and economist disagree on the positive and negative impact imports. Some critics argue that free trade agreement and reliance on imports decrease the demand of domestically produced products. While proponents of imports argue that imports improve the superiority of life of people globally by providing great choice of products. They say that availability of these cheaper products also help to avoid extensive inflation.