Why are you fighting on terminology? We should be talking about what the 'Trades are binding' means.
There was nothing about whether trades really are binding or not in the original post. When asked - I just made a ruling based on what is the multiplayer standard in this post. And yes, Time_Legend sort of threw the admin responsibility to me so I believe I had the right to make the call.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showp...&postcount=134
Now here is my interpretation. If you agree to some trade, the sending of gems/items part is binding. It does not matter why you agree to send that stuff or whether it makes any sense to do so. You have to do it.
Here is a thread from another forum which tries to explain the idea clearly.
http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/...?showtopic=726
Now, when you borrow some gems, there is an agreement that the lender sends some gems and then later the borrower sends them back. Both of these actions are binding, and are not affected on whether the parties are at war or not.