1916	The U.S. Tariff Commission is established.
1917	The Trading With the Enemy Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1923	The United States formally adopts the unconditional most-favored-nation principle as a cornerstone of its trade policy, after having applied conditional most-favored-nation treatment in its trade relations since 1789.
1930	The Hague Conference establishes the Bank for International Settlements. The Tariff Act of 1930 (the Smoot-Hawley Act) is passed, raising tariff rates on most goods imported into the United States and authorizing the U.S. Tariff Commission to investigate and issue reports on any matters relating to trade.
1933	The Agricultural Adjustment Act authorizes the U.S. president to impose quantitative restrictions on imports of agricultural products affecting U.S. government price support programs. The Buy American Act is passed, mandating preferences for U.S. domestic products or products of certain U.S. trading partners in U.S. federal procurements.
1934	The First Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act is passed. It is later extended by further acts of the U.S. Congress until all of these are superseded by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. These acts provide authority for the U.S. president to reduce tariffs through bilateral negotiations and the GATT multilateral trade negotiations. The Export-Import Bank is created by Executive Order to aid in financing and facilitating U.S. exports. Additional aims include the promotion of trade between the United States and the Soviet Union, and assistance to U.S. companies in participating in the reconstruction of Europe and Asia.
1938	The Foreign Agents Registration Act is passed.
1944	The Bretton Woods Conference is held in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, leading to the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank).
1945	The World Bank is established.
1946	The first session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment is held. Conferees consider a draft charter, submitted by the United States, for an International Trade Organization. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is established.
1947	The first draft of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947) is concluded and signed. The Marshall Plan is established to aid war-torn European economies. Administered by the Economic Cooperation Administration and the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, the program distributes $13,000 million of U.S. aid to 16 European countries before it ends in 1952.
1947-48	The first round of GATT trade negotiations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
1949	The second round of GATT trade negotiations is held in Annecy, France. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established, committing 12 Western nations to a mutual defense alliance. The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) is established to coordinate policies restricting exports of products of potential strategic value to the Soviet Union and other communist countries.
1950	The Customs Cooperation Council is established. It is renamed the World Customs Organization in 1994.
1950-51	The third round of GATT trade negotiations is held in Torquay, England.
1951	The Schuman Plan establishes the European Coal and Steel Community, a common market in Europe for coal and steel.
1952	The Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials (Florence Agreement) enters into force.
1954	The Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 is passed to promote the foreign distribution of U.S. agricultural products.
1956	The fourth round of GATT trade negotiations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
1957	The Treaty of Rome creates the European Economic Community.
1960	The Stockholm Convention establishes the European Free Trade Association. The International Development Association is established as a World Bank affiliate.
1960-62	The fifth round (Dillon Round) of GATT trade negotiations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
1961	President John F. Kennedy establishes the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is formed, replacing the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, with the goal of enabling developed nations of the West to review international economic issues and to coordinate their trade, investment, and development policies. The European Economic Community establishes its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
1962	The U.S. Trade Expansion Act provides authority for U.S. participation in the Kennedy Round of GATT trade negotiations and authorizes reductions of up to 50 percent on most items in U.S. tariff schedules on a reciprocal basis. The act also establishes the office of the president's Special Representative for Trade Negotiations.
1963-67	The sixth round (Kennedy Round) of GATT trade negotiations is held in Geneva, Switzerland. These negotiations produce tariff reductions, an antidumping code, and the International Wheat Agreement. The concept of special and differential treatment is introduced.
1964	The first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-I) is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
1968	The second UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-II), held in New Delhi, India, approves a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for exports from developing countries.
1969	The Andean Pact is established with the goals of creating a regional free trade area and encouraging economic growth. The Export Administration Act is enacted.
1970	The United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property becomes the World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO continues BIRPI's work of administering the Paris and Bern Conventions protecting intellectual property rights.
1971	The Williams Commission report to the U.S. president recommends a U.S. initiative for a major round of trade negotiations.
1972	The third UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-III) is held in Santiago, Chile.
1973	President Richard Nixon proposes a trade bill to authorize U.S. participation in a major round of GATT trade negotiations. The Tokyo Declaration formally initiates a major round of multilateral trade negotiations within the framework of the GATT. The Tokyo Round focuses on eliminating nontariff barriers restricting nonagricultural trade and on improving the access of developing nations to foreign markets. The Kyoto Convention is established to harmonize national customs procedures on a global basis.
1974	The Trade Act of 1974 is passed by the U.S. Congress. This legislation also authorizes the first Generalized System of Preferences arrangement, requires the president’s Special Trade Representative to prepare the annual National Trade Estimate Report, authorizes U.S. participation in the Tokyo Round, and changes the U.S. Tariff Commission to the U.S. International Trade Commission. The Multi-Fiber Arrangement goes into force, permitting quantitative restrictions on textile imports that would otherwise violate GATT requirements. The MFA is replaced in 1995 by the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, which will be phased out by 2005.
1975	The Lomé Convention is signed. The European Community agrees to provide financial and technical assistance to African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations and to implement tariff preferences for many of their products.
1976	The fourth UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-IV), held in Nairobi, Kenya, launches the Integrated Program for Commodities.
1977	The Downing Street Summit Meeting in London approves accelerated efforts to conclude the Tokyo Round. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act extends emergency powers granted to the U.S. president by the Trading With the Enemy Act.
1979	Participating governments initial agreements negotiated during the Tokyo Round. The fifth UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-V) is held in Manila, Philippines. The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 authorizes implementation of agreements negotiated during the Tokyo Round and amends the GSP. It also renames the Office of the Special Trade Representative the Office of as the U.S. Trade Representative. The Export Administration Act of 1979 is passed, allowing the U.S. president to control exports of certain U.S. goods and technical data.
1981	The United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries is held in Paris, France.
1982	A ministerial meeting at GATT headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, identifies a GATT work program for the 1980s focusing on barriers to agricultural trade, services, and obstacles to developing country exports. The Caribbean Basin Initiative is established. The Export Trading Company Act is enacted.
1983	The Williamsburg Summit Meeting agrees to consultations on a new round of GATT trade negotiations and on conditions for improving the international monetary system. The sixth UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-VI) is held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System) is approved by the Customs Cooperation Council; it enters into force in 1988.
1985	The United States and Israel enter into a free trade area agreement. Finance ministers and central bankers of the G-5 agree to force down the U.S. dollar's value relative to other currencies to reduce the U.S. trade deficit (the Plaza Accord). The Export Enhancement Program is established to subsidize U.S.-produced agricultural products sold on world markets.
1986	Ministers from 74 nations meet at Punta del Este, Uruguay, to initiate the Uruguay Round, a new round of GATT trade negotiations. Spain and Portugal join the European Community.
1987	The Single Act of the European Community is signed, further deepening European integration.
1988	U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sign the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement. A midterm review of the Uruguay Round is held in Montreal (the Montreal Ministerial). Frameworks to complete Uruguay Round negotiations are reached in most negotiating areas, except for agriculture, intellectual property, textiles, and safeguards. The Montreal Protocol is also negotiated to phase out the use of ozone-damaging chemicals, permitting the use of trade sanctions to enforce its provisions. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act is enacted. It authorizes substantial revisions in U.S. trade laws in such areas as international trade agreements, antidumping and countervailing duty law enforcement, intellectual property rights, trade adjustment assistance, tariff schedule adjustments, export promotion activities, and international debt, and it makes significant changes to Section 301. The United States signs the Bern Convention.
1989	The United States implements the Harmonized Tariff System, replacing the Tariff Schedules of the United States. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is established. Initial membership includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.
1990	U.S. President George Bush announces the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, a plan to create a new economic relationship with Latin America. A December ministerial (the Brussels Ministerial) brings the Uruguay Round near collapse.
1991	Canada, Mexico, and the United States initiate negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Andean Trade Preference Act is enacted. GATT Director General Arthur Dunkel issues the Draft Final Act of the Uruguay Round. MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) is formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The Super 301 provision of the Omnibus Trade Act of 1988 expires. APEC admits the People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong.
1992	NAFTA negotiations conclude: Canada, Mexico, and the United States agree to remove all tariffs on trade, to reduce barriers to trade in services, to remove restrictions on foreign investment, and to protect intellectual property. The International Telecommunication Union (originally created in 1865) is re-formed to create three sectors (radio communications, telecommunication standardization, and development), integrating functions previously carried out by other multinational telecommunication organizations.
1993	The U.S. Congress approves NAFTA, and President Bill Clinton signs the implementing legislation, the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, ensuring the free flow of goods between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. President Clinton hosts the first leaders' meeting in connection with an APEC ministerial. Founded in 1989 with 12 members, by 1993 APEC consists of Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea. More than 110 countries reach agreement on a new trade accord, completing the Uruguay Round and seven years of negotiations. The Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty) enters into force after ratification by the 12 European Economic Community members. The European Union, consisting of all EEC members, is established. A monetary union is planned for 1999. Provisions on instituting a common foreign and security policy and cooperation in the areas of home affairs and justice are adopted.
1994	The European Economic Area is inaugurated, creating the world's largest trading bloc. Negotiations to admit Austria, Sweden, Finland, and Norway to the European Union conclude in Brussels. Referendums to enter the European Union pass in Austria, Sweden, and Finland, but a referendum in Norway fails. The Uruguay Round agreements are signed in Marrakesh, Morocco. The Super 301 provision of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act is reinstituted by Presidential Executive Order No. 12901. The Uruguay Round Agreements Act is enacted. The APEC Summit is held in Indonesia, and the Bogor Declaration of Common Resolve is issued. It states that industrialized member nations will open their economies to free trade and investment by 2010, developing member nations by 2020. Chile is admitted to APEC. The Summit of the Americas is held in Miami. Negotiations begin to create the "Free Trade Area of the Americas" by 2005 to encompass 34 Western Hemisphere nations.
1995	The World Trade Organization is inaugurated in Geneva, Switzerland, subsuming previous GATT accords into an international trade organization authorized to resolve trade disputes among members and to continue work toward lowering trade barriers and standardizing rules. Austria, Finland, and Sweden become members of the European Union. The European Commission and Council of Ministers implement steps leading toward the adoption of a single currency on January 1, 1999. The APEC Summit is held in Japan. China agrees to reduce its import tariffs by 30 percent beginning in 1996. The Osaka Action Agenda establishes "three pillars" to realize free trade and investment among APEC members: trade and investment liberalization, trade and investment facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation. The Wassenaar Arrangement succeeds COCOM to coordinate policies restricting dual-use goods and technologies and the spread of conventional weapons.
1996	The APEC Summit is held in the Philippines. The Manila Action Plan is adopted, incorporating individual member action plans and collective activities of all APEC members to achieve Bogor deadlines. The first WTO Ministerial Meeting is held in Singapore. Three working groups are established to continue negotiations on trade and investment, trade and competition policy, and government procurement. The Information Technology Agreement, to cut tariffs on computer hardware and software products and telecommunications goods and services by 2000, is concluded.
1997	The Basic Telecommunications Agreement is reached under WTO auspices. Forty nations responsible for 92 percent of world trade in this area sign a pact to eliminate import duties and other trade barriers for telecommunications products by 2000-2005. Sixty-nine governments agree to further liberalization in the telecommunications arena. The Treaty of Amsterdam establishes the framework for expansion of the European Union to include Eastern European nations. In December, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, and Cyprus are invited to begin membership negotiations. Later talks are planned with Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. The Asian economic crisis erupts as Indonesian, South Korean, and Thai currencies are devalued. Across Asia, banks and other businesses fail, and unemployment and prices rise sharply. Negotiations to review and expand the Information Technology Agreement begin under WTO auspices. The "ITA-II" negotiations also encompass nontariff barriers to trade in information technology products. Renewal of the president's "fast-track" trade negotiating authority fails to pass the U.S. Congress. The APEC Summit is held in Vancouver, Canada. APEC members adopt an "early voluntary sectoral liberalization" initiative to open markets in 15 sectors, nine by the end of 1998. The Super 301 provision of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 expires for a second time. The WTO dispute settlement body rules that the European Union's regime governing the importation of bananas violates international trade rules.
1998	The WTO dispute settlement panel issues a report on a U.S. complaint concerning a Canadian ban on certain imported periodicals and associated tax on foreign periodicals printed in Canada with Canadian-specific advertising ("split-run editions"). The WTO rules that Canada's ban on such periodicals violates Canada's WTO obligations under the GATT and the GATS to provide like treatment to like products. The WTO dispute settlement panel issues report on a U.S. complaint concerning the Japanese film and photographic paper sector. The WTO rules that Japanese government policies and practices do not close its market to foreign imports of film and photographic paper. The WTO dispute settlement appeals process affirms a previous WTO ruling that the European Union's import ban on meat produced using growth-promoting hormones is inconsistent with the obligations of the European Union under the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The European Central Bank is established. The Second Summit of the Americas is held in Santiago, Chile. Dates are set for further trade negotiations to establish a hemispheric free trade area, focusing on agriculture, antidumping, dispute settlement, government procurement, intellectual property, investment, market access, services, and subsidies. The second WTO Ministerial Meeting is held in Geneva, Switzerland. The Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce is issued, and a work group is established to discuss trade and global electronic commerce. The WTO dispute settlement appellate body rules against the U.S. ban on imported shrimp from countries not certified as using sea turtle extraction devices. The European Union and the United States adopt the Transatlantic Economic Partnership action plan. The plan initiates both a bilateral and multilateral approach to trade negotiations between the European Union and the United States, incorporating bilateral negotiations on nontariff barriers, services, government procurement, intellectual property, agriculture, labor, and electronic commerce within the broader multilateral framework of the WTO. Trade tensions between the European Union and the United States escalate as the United States plans to retaliate against European rules concerning banana imports scheduled to enter into force in January 1999. The APEC summit is held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. APEC members agree to lower tariffs and other trade barriers in nine sectors identified in Vancouver's "early voluntary sectoral liberalization" initiative. Additional market-opening is begun in the auto, oilseed, food, civil aircraft, fertilizer, and rubber sectors. Peru, Russia, and Vietnam become full APEC members.
1999	The euro is adopted as the single currency unit for all European Union members except for Britain, Sweden, Denmark, and Greece. Exchange rates for participating European Union currencies are fixed against the euro, and all public debt for the countries is now denominated in euros. Either national currencies or euros may be used in electronic transactions, though euro notes and coins will only begin to circulate in 2002. The European System of Central Banks is established. The European Union's Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force. The Super 301 provision of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act is reinstituted by presidential executive order. The Asian economic crisis begins to ameliorate as South Korean and Japanese economies improve. The U.S. Court of International Trade rules against a U.S. proposal to allow the importation of shrimp from countries not certified as using turtle extraction devices on a "shipment-by-shipment" basis. The United States must now reconcile its requirement that imported shrimp be "turtle-safe" with the 1998 WTO ruling that the U.S. ban on such shrimp violates its WTO obligations. The WTO dispute settlement panel determines that the European Union's proposed rules for importation of bananas, intended to meet objections raised by a 1997 WTO dispute settlement panel, still violate WTO obligations. The European Union and the United States begin negotiations to modify the EU banana regime to comply with WTO requirements. The European Union threatens to ban imports of beef from the United States unless they are shown to be free from growth-promoting hormones. The third WTO Ministerial Meeting is held in Seattle, Washington. Those attending fail to reach agreement on a new negotiating agenda.