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# Foreign Market Access

## Definition

The ability of domestic producers to sell their goods in international markets, often restricted by foreign tariffs, prohibitions, or navigation laws. The mercantile system attempts to secure and expand foreign market access through various means while simultaneously restricting access to the domestic market for foreign producers.

## Source Chapter

Book IV, Chapter 8

## Context

Smith analyses how the mercantile system's focus on foreign market access leads to contradictory policies that attempt to open other nations' markets while closing domestic markets. He argues that true market access comes not from political negotiations but from producing goods that other nations want to buy at competitive prices.

## Economic Domain

Exchange

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