In addition to the facts covered in Questions 3 through 5, you learn that the banini is not freely convertible into dollars. The Varoom foreign-exchange and tax laws provide that a foreign-invested joint venture can repatriate up to 50 percent of its foreign-exchange earnings, subject to a repatriation tax of 15 percent (in addition to the tax imposed on the joint venture’s income). Banini profits can be exchanged only upon prior approval by the supervising ministry (each ministry is allocated a quota of baninis for which it can approve an exchange into foreign currencies). In addition, Varoom’s foreign investment law requires that foreign-invested enterprises export a minimum of 50 percent of their products.

a. What alternatives exist to repatriating foreign-currency earnings in the prospective venture?

b. What U.S. laws, if any, might apply to exports of optomagic gizmos to the United States from Varoom?