On Earth, tariff policy was crucial to foreign trade, which was why it was a key concern of the WTO.
But on a broader scale, things changed significantly. Tariffs simply did not exist in interstellar society, or rather, taxes of any kind were rarely collected.
Even a proper state like the Nova Empire had almost no concept of taxation. Within its own borders, there were no small businesses or large corporations; nearly all productive activity fell under the jurisdiction of Nova Supreme.
The only thing remotely related to taxes was that when wandering interstellar travelers arrived on Xandar, they had to spend Star Coins above cost price to purchase necessities, while the same resources were practically free for Nova Empire citizens.
But that was more like Earth's markets—goods were naturally supposed to cost more than their cost price.
So unlike the WTO, the Star River Community's focus in promoting trade was not tariffs, nor could it be unfair trade practices such as dumping or subsidies.
Interstellar trade was already quite "free," so this agenda would focus on standardizing technology and standards.
Take starship fuel, for example. Throughout the universe, countless ships still used high-energy chemical fuels, with innumerable strange "fuel standards." Even ships using Nuclear Fusion had different standards: some burned Deuterium, while others burned Tritium.
Earth also had several different grades of gasoline and diesel, but the concepts were completely different—although gasoline and diesel came in many grades, they still had standards.
Besides, gasoline of different grades was still gasoline, but interstellar ships were different. They simply had no standards whatsoever. Any substance capable of releasing energy could be stuffed into a ship through "cosmic engineering." Oxidizing combustion materials were only a small category among them; in reality, most fuels underwent complicated and bizarre chemical reactions.
Beyond fuel, there