There were four dominant types of Imperialism being used at this time. Colony, Protectorate, Sphere of Influence, and Economic Imperialism. In the Sphere of Influence, Governments had exclusive trading rights and economic benefits from the country they took dominace over. Which means the country that was under the sphere of influence was only allowed to trade with the dominating country and nobody else. This was good for the dominting country because they didn't have to worry about trade competition but it was bad before the dominated country because if the other country did not want their goods they would have a surplus of supplies and not make any money because they cannot trade with anyone else. An example of this would be America and Liberia.