[DoodleDawg]

Been over this with you before. *SPECIE* is not trade. No nation willingly continues to use specie to purchase imports because it drains their wealth over the long term.

What else would they use? Or do you think it was a barter economy?

[SoCal Pubbie]

Foreign interests often took commodities such as corn or cotton in trade for manufactured goods. Much of the exchange was simply entries on balance books.