1946 - 1995
1946 The Bretton Woods system goes into effect; it had been planned since 1944 as an international economic structure to prevent further depressions and wars. It included institutions and rules intended to prevent national trade barriers being erected, as the lack of free trade was considered by many to have been a principal cause of the war.
1947 23 countries agree to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to rationalize trade among the nations. Low tariffs are beneficial to the economies of the nations in that it encourages imports, increases government revenues and gives local industries some motivation to improve their efficiency. High tariffs discourage trade between the nations, reducing or eliminating government revenues from this sector of taxation, and giving more monopoly power to local industry. So, low tariffs are beneficial to the world economy but not free trade. Free trade does not necessarily mean increased trade among the nations. Nations who cannot compete in the world market will have their standard of living reduced and this reduction in their standard of living will reduce world trade. Free trade does not enable governments to earn taxes from this sector. Free trade transfers monopoly power from local industry to foreign companies and the job of government regulating the economy for the common benefit of everybody will be lost. Foreign companies cannot be regulated by government because they are aliens to a local economy.
1948 Ludwig Erhard's trade liberalization is credited by some with making
1948 The International Trade Organization's charter is agreed at the UN Havana conference on Trade and Employment, but blocked in the U.S. Senate.
1951 The European Coal and Steel Community, forerunner of the European Union, creates a free trade area for certain raw materials inside
1959 Oxfam opens the first World shop, retailing foreign goods under fair trade principles.
1960 European Free Trade Association established.
1971 Zangger Committee formed to advise on the interpretation of nuclear goods in relation to international trade and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
1971 Without accepting the doctrines of free trade the, "Comprehensive Program for Socialist Economic Integration" moved the Comecon countries to world prices in calculating the value of intra-Comecon trade. The free market price was observed for five years and the mean of these prices used to give the relative value of the imports and exports between communist countries in the trading group over the following five years.
October 16, 1973: OPEC raises the Saudi light crude export price, and mandate an export cut the next day, plus an Embargo on oil exports to nations allied with Israel in the course of the Yom Kippur War. The cartel's apparent ability to manipulate prices by restricting supply was taken by many oil importers as an example of the "reciprocity" violation of free trade advanced by John Stuart Mill in 1848.
1974 The oil price shock was felt around the world, because production reductions increased the international price even on the open market (to countries outside the OPEC embargo). Some oil importing countries respond with the rationing of oil consumption.
1974 The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was created to moderate international trade in nuclear related goods, after the explosion of a nuclear device by a non-nuclear weapon State.
1975 Inter-Comecon trade tied even more closely to the "world price" dictated by free trade.
1985 The Australia Group was formed to moderate international trade in chemical & biological weapons and associated goods.
1987 The Missile Technology Control Regime came into being with the aim of limiting the proliferation of the means of delivery of weapons of mass destruction, using international trade controls.
1988 Solidaridad launches "Fair trade" labeling with the sale of Mexican coffee which was certified to meet ethical standards of sustainable development. This and other initiatives promoted the idea that some trade between regions could be socially beneficial (outside of the economic elites). The movement is especially active in campaigning to remove agricultural subsidies in the developed world (which some see as campaigning for free trade).
1992 European Union lifts barriers to internal trade in goods and labor.
January 1, 1994 NAFTA takes effect
1994 The GATT Marrakech Agreement specifies formation of the WTO.
January 1, 1995 World Trade Organization is created to facilitate free trade, by mandating mutual most favored nation trading status between all signatories.
1996 The Wassenaar Arrangement - moderates international trade in conventional arms and associated goods.
~ info from Wikipedia.org, edited by me
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