Hypernym for “import” and “export”?

What word could describe an operation of either importing or exporting?

X is to import and export as migration is to immigration and emigration.

Porting isn't the word I'm looking for, I don't think, but that's what I'm getting at. Cheers!


The right comparative, admittedly obscure, word is portation, not porting.

OED: the act of carrying or transferring.


As noted earlier, a more precise word will depend on the context:

  • in the context of international commerce, import and export are both forms of international trade
  • in the context of a single business, import and export are both forms of transport of goods or services (usually to or from a different country, but not always)
  • in the context of software systems, import and export are usually both forms of integration between software systems, or in a somewhat more general sense, data transfer (or, less frequently, data transport)

Combining suggestions:

International trade

because import and export are by definition trade between countries.