Abstract. Competitiveness of the world nations is due to the trade liaisons between these nations and proves how the economies manage the present, in the crisis conditions, but merely, their future. The entire world is now under the globalization features and the international trade is the main vector of this wholeness. The process of formation of regional economic entities is not opposite to that of globalization process. It is a complementary one. The entire world is already entered in recession, starting with the most developed countries. Therefore, for all economies, including Romania, the main goal is to discover and to apply the most appropriate measures and policies in order to reduce the decline and to assure, at the same time, the competitiveness of national economic entities. The international trade must go on and create possibilities to a sustainable development of all components of the commercial circuit.

Keywords: international trade; globalization; crisis; competitiveness; knowledge-based economy.