Bretton Woods Conference

Bretton Woods set up the postwar monetary order that, together with later trade agreements, supported the long expansion of world trade. Delegates agreed on fixed exchange rates tied to the US dollar, which was convertible to gold, and created the IMF to support currency stability and the World Bank to fund reconstruction. Tariff rules were handled separately, through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade signed in Geneva in 1947. Stable currencies made long-term supply contracts easier to price, and importers still manage the exchange rate risk that returned after the fixed-rate system ended in the early 1970s.

• Landed CostTotal cost to get a product ready to sell
• Purchase OrderPOA buyer's order document to a supplier
• Contract RateFreight price locked in for a set term

• The Wealth of Nations1776 · Adam Smith argues for division of labor and free trade
• Marshall Plan1948–1952 · US aid of about $13 billion rebuilds Western Europe
• Kennedy Round1964–1967 · GATT talks cut industrial tariffs by about 35 percent

• Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 19341934 · Law letting the President cut tariffs by agreement
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)1947 · Postwar treaty that set most-favored-nation tariff rules

1. Bretton Woods-GATT, 1941-1947 history.state.gov
2. Bretton Woods system britannica.com
3. IMF Timeline imf.org