Mercantile is used for policies that focus on encouraging trade and achieving foreign trade surpluses in order to increase the economic power of states. It is usually used in the context of mercantilism. Mercantilism is a widespread economic practice and theory between the 16th and 18th centuries. Mercantilism advocates that states should control foreign trade and especially encourage exports and limit imports in order to increase their wealth. In addition, the concepts of mercantile and mercantilism are considered important in understanding the development of economic strategies within the field of international relations and how these strategies affect the power dynamics between states.

• Viner, J. (1948). Power versus plenty as objectives of foreign policy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. World Politics, 1(1), 1–29.