Question

Which of the following can be most properly inferred from the passage about the products whose importation was banned?

• A. Those products had been cheaper to import than they were to make within country Z’s fledgling industries.
• B. Those products were ones that country Z was hoping to export in its turn, once the fledgling industries matured.
• C. Those products used to be imported from just those countries to which country Z’s exports went.
• D. Those products had become more and more expensive to import, which resulted in a foreign trade deficit just before the ban.
• E. Those products used to be imported in very small quantities, but they were essential to country Z’s economy.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Those products had been cheaper to import than they were to make within country Z’s fledgling industries.

Option: (a)
In Z, when the government banned imports of certain products the cost of those produces rose, so the products must have been cheaper to import than they were to make in Z. Therefore choice A is the best answer. None of the other choices can be inferred. Country Z need have had no plan to export those products later (choice B), nor need the products have come previously from those countries to which country Z exported goods (choice C). The products need not have become more expensive before the ban (choice D), and they could have been imported in relatively large quantities (choice E).