ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop and test the hypotheses of international trade relations, especially between the United States and the Pacific Basin Newly Industrializing Countries (NIC). It explores the explanatory power identified in the hypotheses. The chapter examines the soundness of each theoretical perspective; and the plausibility of a new theory of international trade. Analyzing import penetrations by the Pacific Basin NICs requires the consideration of the similarities and the dissimilarities within the region. It offers enough variation to be meaningful, but not so much that comparisons become extremely complicated and data collection difficult. In the field of international political economy, there are three major theoretical perspectives concerned with trade relations. They are: Interdependence, Dependency, and Mercantilism. At the risk of oversimplification, the chapter summarizes the main points of each perspective in an attempt to isolate the consistent and prevalent causes of import penetration.
