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World Food Program

(Encyclopedia)World Food Program (WFP), United Nations humanitarian organization devoted to combating hunger and establishing food security globally. Relying solely on donations, the WFP provides emergency food ass...

World Economic Forum

(Encyclopedia)World Economic Forum (WEF), independent international organization that seeks to improve the state of the world by encouraging partnerships between the public and private sectors, est. 1971 by the Ger...

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

(Encyclopedia)General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), former specialized agency of the United Nations. It was established in 1948 as an interim measure pending the creation of the International Trade Organiz...

fair-trade laws

(Encyclopedia)fair-trade laws, in the United States, a former group of statutes that permitted manufacturers to specify the minimum retail price of a commodity. The first fair-trade law was adopted (1931) by Califo...

fur trade

(Encyclopedia)fur trade, in American history. Trade in animal skins and pelts had gone on since antiquity, but reached its height in the wilderness of North America from the 17th to the early 19th cent. The demand ...

trade association

(Encyclopedia)trade association, group of business people in the same trade or industry organized for the advancement of common interests. The trade association differs from the chamber of commerce in that membersh...

trade rat

(Encyclopedia)trade rat: see pack rat.

trade union

(Encyclopedia)trade union: see union, labor.

trade winds

(Encyclopedia)trade winds, movement of air toward the equator, from the NE in the Northern Hemisphere and from the SE in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds originate on the equatorial sides of the horse latit...

World Heritage Site

(Encyclopedia)World Heritage Site, a place of cultural or natural importance listed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The sites, some natural, so...