Most international trade involves cash transactions. Yet many nations have too little hard currency to pay for their purchases from other countries. They may want to pay with other items instead of cash. Barter involves the direct exchange of goods or services. For example, China agreed to help the Democratic Republic of Congo develop $6 billion of desperately needed infrastructure-2,400 miles of roads, 2,000 miles of railways, 32 hospitals, 145 health centers, and two universities-in exchange for natural resources needed to feed China’s booming industries-10 million tons of copper and 400,000 tons of cobalt