IMPORTS. A term used to describe the commodities brought into a country by the operations of commerce. Considered eco nomically, the imports into a country represent payments to the importing country for (I ) exportation of goods ; (2) services, such as the services of ships, or commercial or financial commissions; (3) interest and principal repayments on capital previously ex ported by the importing country; or (4) movements of gold and silver. After the World War, another source of imports arose out of the payment of indemnities, Germany being compelled to ex port to the Allies and thus causing them to receive imports. The repayment of the inter-allied debts set up a cause of imports, con sisting of exports made by one ally to another. (See TRADE.) The difference between the imports and exports of a country, as recorded by its customs houses, is called the "balance of trade" (see BALANCE OF TRADE). The records made at the custom house can refer, of course, only to material commodities, but a country may at any time be importing services, the value of which cannot and is not recorded in the trade returns. To such imported services the term "invisible imports" is sometimes applied.
The values at which imports are officially recorded by customs houses varies with different nations ; in the case of the United Kingdom, the imports are entered at what are called c.i.f., values, that is, values representing the cost, insurance and freight; or when goods are consigned to the United Kingdom for sale, at the latest sale value of such goods. (See also EXPORTS.)