Neither a rising standard of living nor balanced trade, by itself, establishes a country's ability to compete in the international marketplace. Both are required simultaneously since standards of living can rise because of growing trade deficits and trade can be balanced by means of a decline in a country's standard of living.

If the facts stated in the passage above are true, a proper test of a country's ability to be competitive is its ability to

• Abalance its trade while its standard of living rises  
• Bbalance its trade while its standard of living falls  
• Cincrease trade deficits while its standard of living rises  
• Ddecrease trade deficits while its standard of living falls  
• Ekeep its standard of living constant while trade deficits rise