Countertrade is a trading mechanism of the seller to facilitate the marketing goods, services and trade projects in order to:

• Trade products without use of money
• Overcome a currency inconvertibility
• Enhance the buyers desire to purchase
• Eliminate excess inventories without value loss
• Develop off balance sheet financing
• Promote donations

Countertrade as a whole is distinguished from all other international business activity by the fact that it is in some sense forced trade, trade that only takes place in order to make the original movement of capital, goods, or services – which give rise to the countertrade – possible. Within the broad definition fall many different forms of reciprocal international business, including all manner of trading in goods, and services, investments, and technology licensing.²
 
Today, the impetus for executing countertrade is not always initiated by the “seller.” Often governments desireto take advantage of their major procurements and try to extend their purchasing budgets by requiring that special concessions are given them in various forms of countertrade. Most often these become what we call are “offset” or industrial participation.