# The world trade and money order How trade and money were ordered between states: from bilateral trade treaties through Bretton Woods and the GATT rounds to the WTO and the mega-regional pacts. *This story parallel: Building Europe: from coal and steel to union* *The Rothschilds part of this story* *Princes of the Yen: Japan built, bubbled, and broken parallel this story* *Paper money, central banks, and credit creation parallel this story* *The Plaza Accord and the endaka turn parallel this story* *Quantitative easing begins in Japan parallel this story* *From Bretton Woods to the euro: monetary regimes around Japan parallel this story* ## 27 December 1703 — Methuen Treaty Trade treaty between England and Portugal exchanging preferential duties on English woolens for Portuguese wine. It tied Portugal's economy and diplomacy to Britain for generations. ## 22 March 1833 — Zollverein Treaties uniting most German states in a customs union under Prussian leadership, effective from January 1834. It knitted Germany together economically decades before political unification. ## 31 March 1854 — Convention of Kanagawa Treaty concluded under pressure from Commodore Perry's squadron, opening two Japanese ports to American ships and ending two centuries of Japanese seclusion. It began Japan's forced opening to the West. ## 23 January 1860 — Cobden-Chevalier Treaty Free trade treaty between Britain and France cutting tariffs and pioneering the most-favored-nation clause. It triggered a wave of trade liberalization across Europe. ## 17 May 1930 — Founding of the Bank for International Settlements The BIS opens in Basel, created to handle German war reparations under the Young Plan. It survived as the bank for central banks and the oldest international financial institution. ## 22 July 1944 — Bretton Woods system financial-economic agreement reached in 1944 ## 27 December 1945 — Founding of the International Monetary Fund The IMF's Articles of Agreement, drawn up at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, enter into force when 29 countries sign, creating the institution charged with stabilizing exchange rates and the international monetary system. ## 27 December 1945 — Founding of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, designed at Bretton Woods in 1944, formally comes into existence to finance postwar reconstruction and later development lending worldwide. ## 30 October 1947 — General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade multilateral agreement regulating international trade ## 16 April 1948 — Founding of the OEEC Sixteen European states create the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation in Paris to administer Marshall Plan aid and coordinate postwar reconstruction. It was reorganized as the OECD in 1961. ## January 1949 — Founding of Comecon The Soviet Union and five Eastern European states found the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance at a Moscow conference held 5 to 8 January, announced on 25 January, as the Eastern bloc's answer to the Marshall Plan. ## 3 May 1960 — Founding of the European Free Trade Association The Stockholm Convention enters into force, creating EFTA among seven European states as a free trade alternative to the European Economic Community. ## 14 September 1960 — Founding of OPEC Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela found the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at a conference in Baghdad to coordinate oil policies against the dominance of Western oil companies. ## 30 September 1961 — Founding of the OECD The OECD Convention, signed in December 1960, enters into force, transforming the Marshall Plan-era OEEC into a broader club of market democracies that sets economic policy standards and statistics. ## 19 December 1966 — Founding of the Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank is established in Manila to finance economic development across Asia and the Pacific, modeled on the World Bank. ## 1971 — End of the Bretton Woods system Under the Bretton Woods system, which lasted until 1971, much of the world had fixed exchange rates with the U.S. dollar, forcing other countries to accept dollars at given rates while the United States printed large amounts of them. > "At the time, much of the world had fixed exchange rates with the U.S. dollar under the Bretton Woods system (until 1971)." > — Princes of the Yen ## 24 January 1971 — Founding of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab convenes the first European Management Forum in Davos, gathering business executives for an annual meeting. Renamed the World Economic Forum in 1987, it became the best known gathering of global business and political elites. ## December 1971 — Smithsonian Agreement fixes the yen at 308 per dollar After the yen rose following the Nixon shock, the short-lived Smithsonian Agreement of December 1971 fixed the yen at 308 to the dollar. > "Then, the yen rose, triggering the short-lived Smithsonian Agreement, which fixed it at ¥308/$ in December 1971." > — Princes of the Yen ## 18 November 1974 — Founding of the International Energy Agency Industrialized oil-importing countries create the IEA within the OECD framework after the 1973 oil crisis, to coordinate emergency oil stocks and energy policy. ## 15 November 1975 — Founding of the Group of Seven (G7) Leaders of France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US hold the first economic summit at the Chateau de Rambouillet amid oil shock and recession. Canada joined in 1976, making it the G7. > "we are discussing the problem of some seven million students in our elementary schools alone." > — Life in Classrooms ## 26 March 1991 — Treaty of Asuncion Treaty among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay creating Mercosur, a southern common market. It became the main trade bloc of South America. ## 28 June 1991 — Dissolution of Comecon At its final council session in Budapest, Comecon members agree to dissolve the Soviet-led economic bloc as communist rule collapses across Eastern Europe. ## 1992 — Maastricht Treaty lays foundations for European monetary union The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 laid the foundations for monetary union in Europe and defined the role of a totally independent European Central Bank, becoming the model for central bank independence worldwide. > "The most forceful case in favor of central bank independence was made in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which laid the foundations for monetary union in Europe." > — Princes of the Yen ## 17 December 1992 — North American Free Trade Agreement Agreement creating a free trade area among the United States, Canada, and Mexico, effective 1994. It reshaped North American supply chains and the politics of trade. ## 15 April 1994 — Marrakesh Agreement Agreement concluding the Uruguay Round and establishing the World Trade Organization with binding dispute settlement. It created the legal foundation of the modern global trading system. ## 1 January 1995 — Founding of the World Trade Organization The WTO begins operation under the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the GATT framework with a permanent organization to govern world trade rules and settle trade disputes. ## 26 September 1999 — Founding of the G20 G7 finance ministers announce a new Group of Twenty of major advanced and emerging economies after the Asian financial crisis, with an inaugural meeting in Berlin that December. It became a leaders' summit in 2008. ## 16 January 2016 — Founding of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The China-led AIIB opens for business in Beijing with 57 founding members, a new multilateral bank for infrastructure lending in Asia seen as a counterweight to the World Bank and ADB. ## 8 March 2018 — Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade agreement among eleven Pacific Rim economies, salvaged after the United States left the original TPP. It sets high-standard rules on trade, investment, and digital commerce. ## 21 March 2018 — African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement creating a continent-wide free trade area covering most African states, the largest by membership since the WTO was formed. Trading under the agreement began in 2021. ## 30 November 2018 — United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Trade agreement replacing NAFTA with updated rules on autos, labor, and digital trade. It entered into force in July 2020. ## 15 November 2020 — Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Free trade agreement among fifteen Asia-Pacific countries including China, Japan, South Korea, and the ASEAN states. Measured by members' GDP it is the largest trade bloc in history. ## 30 December 2020 — EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement Agreement governing trade and cooperation between the European Union and the United Kingdom after Brexit, providing tariff-free trade in goods with new border formalities. It took effect when the transition period ended.