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There are four major cost components in international trade, known as the “Four
Ts”:
Transaction costs. The costs related to the economic exchange behind trade. It
can include the gathering of information, negotiating, and enforcing
contracts, letters of credit and transactions, including monetary exchange rates if a
transaction takes place in another currency. Transactions taking place within a
corporation are commonly lower than for transactions taking place between
corporations. Still, with e-commerce, they have declined substantially.
Time costs. The delays related to the lag between an order and the moment it is
received by the purchaser. Long-distance international trade is often related to
time delays that can be compounded by custom inspection delays. Supply chain
management strategies are able to mitigate effectively time constraints, namely
through the inventory in transit concept.