Some issues of development of international trade theories in the context of national competitiveness

The paper examines the evolution of the main theories of international trade that explain the benefits of foreign economic relations for states in terms of increasing their national competitiveness. The main theoretical concepts of the classical economic school - the ideas of A. Smith and D. Ricardo - are critically comprehended; neoclassical school - models of E. Heckscher, B. Olin, V. Stolper, P. Samuelson, V. Leontief; structural-functional school - R. Vernon, M. Porter; a new theory of international trade (and a new economic geography) by P. Krugman and K. Lancaster; network theory of trade - M. Granovetter, R. Burt, D. Watts; theories of the firm - P. Buckley, M. Casson; theories of global value chains - G. Gereffi, J. Humphrey, R. Kaplinsky, as well as the Marxist school. It is concluded that the “new” theories of international trade, although do not deny the basic premises of the “traditional” ones, and, like the latter, are not universal, have various areas of empirical application.