Chiqi Liu

In the early stages of mercantilism, the actual policies were mostly direct or special controls to regulate individual trade. Thus, the British had the Royal Exchange Office to control foreign exchange transactions and other official agencies to regulate transactions in the commodity markets to ensure that each transaction maximized the contribution to the increase in the nation's gold and silver stocks. Basically, mercantilists believed that not only should a surplus in total trade be valued, but that a surplus in trade with each country or sector of foreign trade should be required.