Impact of Foreign Trade on Romania's Economic Sustainability During the Pre- and Post-accession Periods

The paper presents some aspects of Romania's foreign trade impact on the sustainability of the national economy during the pre- and post-accession periods laying emphasis on the trade balance, the influence of foreign direct investments and the trends of the revealed comparative advantages indices of Romania's export within the intra- and extra-EU27 trade. The research poses the issue of Romania's economic decline and of its slow recovery taking into account the effects of the incipient integration stages, corroborated with those of the international financial crisis which broke out in 2008. The main conclusion of the research reveals that both foreign trade and FDI at macroeconomic level failed to counteract the negative effects of the economic crisis in Romania and did not contribute to Romania's sustainability and convergence. The decline recorded by Romania's GDP in the years 2009 and 2010 was still not recovered by 2013 even if exports and imports exceeded the pre-crisis maximum level.