Regional Trading Groups

One of the most pervasive influences in the global economy over the last half century has been the rapid rise of international trade organizations. Pioneered by the European Economic Community, founded in part to assist in rebuilding the European economy after World War II, these organizations have become major players in global movements of goods, services, and labor. Some have integrated to form financial and political unions, such as the European Community which has grown into the European Union. Others, like the Commonwealth of Independent States, are attempts to hold on to the remnants of better economic times. Still others, like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, are infant organizations that incorporate vastly different regions, states, and even economic systems, and are attempts to anticipate the direction of future economic growth. The role of the international trade organizations is likely to grow greater in the twenty-first century.