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The article reports on East-West trade and the Free World's interest in Japan as part of a military defense strategy. There is concern about the deficit in Japan's sterling account and balance of payments in 1953. Opposition to Japanese trade with countries in the Communist Bloc is due to the West's trade sanctions and the possibility that economic or political cooperation with communist China could result in a security threat to the United States. Topics include the Japanese export program and American economic aid to Japan.

The article examines the United States' restrictive trade policy with Communist-dominated countries. The purpose of the American embargo policy is to stop all trade between East and West, but Western European countries are reluctant to join. The Western bloc are concerned with: traditional trading patterns that make countries dependent on trade with the East; trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe that could alleviate the dollar gap and allow raw materials to be imported from non-dollar areas; and East-West trade that can prevent "price softness" and heavy inventories as well as strengthen commodity prices. Topics include the 1949 Export Control Act, trade with China, and contraband activity.