National Foreign Trade Council

The Captain Robert Dollar Memorial Award has been given annually since 1938 at the NFTC's annual convention to the individual "who, in the judgement of a committee to be named by the council, shall have made during the preceding calendar year the most outstanding contribution towards the advancement of the foreign trade of our country."

The first annual National Foreign Trade Convention was held in May 1914 and preceded the formation of the National Foreign Trade Council. The Convention became the NFTC's principal event and the one time in which most of its members could congregate. Arranging the conventions was one of the major duties of the NFTC staff. In addition to the NFTC membership, the conventions attracted government officials and public policy experts from the U.S. and its international trading partners.

During the last half of the twentieth century, the conventions were typically divided into general and special sessions that focused either on topical concerns such as industrial relations, education, trade barriers, foreign investment, international finance, energy concern and the like, or on regional developments such as trade with Latin America, the European Union, or Asia and the western Pacific. The conventions also featured exhibits, a series of group luncheons, a general banquet, and later a "World Trade Dinner."

Through 1974, the conventions published a final declaration, which represented the NFTC's stand on current issues and its policy recommendations. Beginning in 1975, the declaration was published in the name of the NFTC itself, and generally issued after the convention.

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) was established on May, 28 1914 by a resolution of the first National Foreign Trade Convention, during its proceedings at Washington D.C.'s Hotel Raleigh. It was incorporated in New York in 1936. The NFTC is the country's leading trade organization dealing with matters of international trade and international economic relations.

For a more complete history, see the agency history or linked finding aid.

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) was established on May, 28 1914 by a resolution of the first National Foreign Trade Convention, during its proceedings at Washington D.C.'s Hotel Raleigh. It was incorporated in New York in 1936. The NFTC is the country's leading trade organization dealing with matters of international trade and international economic relations.

For a more complete history, see the agency history or linked finding aid.

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) was established on May 28, 1914, by a resolution of the first National Foreign Trade Convention, during its proceedings at Washington D.C.'s Hotel Raleigh. In this resolution the convention, which met on May 27 and 28, 1914, called for the creation of a national organization "to coordinate the foreign trade activities of the nation." The convention appointed 35 delegates to serve as charter members of the NFTC, with James A. Farrell, then-President of U.S. Steel, the new organization's first chairman.

During the first phase of the NFTC's existence, from its founding in 1914 to its incorporation in New York as a membership corporation in 1936, the Council's activities were focused on organizing its annual convention and, increasingly, directly negotiating with foreign corporations and governments on behalf of member companies for repatriation of funds and for commercial funding agreements. Much of the Council's activity during this period was focused on Caribbean and Latin American trading partners

As part of its 1936 incorporation, the Council reorganized with a Board of Directors and a permanent, paid President responsible for "general direction of the Council, [and] all matters pertaining to finances and policy." In his capacity as CEO of the Council, the President also directed the Council's first permanent staff. The Board of Directors was comprised of executives of member companies elected annually by the membership, including in 1936, Gerard Swope (General Electric Co.); Fred I. Kent (Bankers Trust); Walter C. Teagle (Standard Oil Co.); James D. Mooney (General Motors Export Co.); George H. Bucher (Westinghouse); and seven other executives from leading American industrial and financial corporations with significant export interests. Eugene P. Thomas served as the first President of the Council (1932-1950).

The Council enlarged its activities significantly in the immediate pre-war period, consolidating with the American Manufacturers Export Association in 1936, and establishing its Captain Robert Dollar Memorial Award in 1937. This award, given annually at the NFTC annual convention, honors "..the most outstanding contribution towards the advancement of the foreign trade of our country" and was named for Captain Robert Dollar, a founding NFTC member and the owner of the Dollar Line, a pioneering international steamship company. Secretary of State Cordell Hull was the first recipient of the award in 1938, with successive awardees including government officials and leading industrialists and financiers.

By 1940, the NFTC had 516 member companies, and was increasingly active in the promotion of competitive trade policies based on principles of free enterprise and limited regulation. The activities of the Council were carried out largely through the establishment of committees concerned with specific regional trade or particular legislative or regulatory issues, and by the adoption of committee reports and recommendations by the Board. Committees were established by the Board of Directors according to the interests of the membership.

During World War II, the Council's activities were primarily focused on securing U.S. property held abroad and consulting with government agencies responsible for war production and foreign trade on behalf of its membership. Throughout the war, however, the NFTC continued to promulgate resolutions and recommendations emphasizing the primacy of free trade and competition as standards for any post-war normalization of international trade relations and treaties. Through its declarations, publications, and submissions to Congressional hearings and government conferences, the NFTC promoted simplification of regulations governing the export trade, and opposed trade barriers, the application of restraint of trade law to foreign enterprise by U.S. companies, and restrictive tariffs in general.

The NFTC's activities in the immediate post-war period were increasingly focused on post-war planning and problems related to the position of private enterprise during the post war economic transition. Council representatives and members took part in or advised on many of the most significant conferences and international agreements following the end of hostilities, including the Bretton Woods Agreements, the Rye Conference, the 1947-1948 United Nations International Trade Organization conference in Havana, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the Marshall Plan. NFTC conference statements, committee proceedings, and publications in this period emphasize planning for the preservation of free enterprise and the deregulation of trade between friendly nations. The Council was also interested in influencing legislation and regulations concerning expropriated U.S. property in Germany and Soviet Union- occupied areas of Germany and Eastern Europe, and with relaxing restrictions on business travel to formerly hostile areas, Europe, and the Western Pacific.

As a result of the dramatic increase in the scope and influence of its work in the post-war environment, the Council expanded its permanent staff structure and merged with smaller organizations, establishing a new territorial division in 1948 through the absorption of the Council for Inter-American Cooperation. The NFTC also planned, but never consummated, a merger with the Far East-America Council. The Council also worked extensively with other trade organizations in attempts to coordinate policy positions and legislative initiatives. Council directors were also members of such organizations as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, N.A.M., the American Maritime Council, and Nelson Rockefeller's U.S. Council of International Economic Policy, among others.

Throughout this period the Council continued to hold its annual convention, but also increased the scope of its publication and information services to members, issuing large numbers of memoranda, bulletins, regional periodicals and digests of business news on particular issues or areas related to international trade. Council staff and members were increasingly involved in government liaison, including testimony before Congress and lobbying of administration officials.

The Council continued to be an influential voice in US international trade and investment throughout the 1950s and 1960s, issuing statements and testifying before Congressional hearings on the fullest range of US foreign trade policies, including taxation of foreign earnings, GATT, immigration policy, and the protection of US business interests in revolutionary regimes. The Council continued to issue frequent and voluminous reports on trade policies and other legislative and political developments with trading partners across the globe. Council initiatives in the 1970s and 1980s included promotion of the economic benefits of multinational corporations to home countries and involvement in US and international legislation and agreements regulating the activities of global and trans-national companies; reporting on the impact of U.S. tax reform on American expatriates and business interests; development of regulations proposed in response to the depreciation of the dollar; the OPEC boycott and many other issues.

From the 1990s, the Council continued to take a leading role in representing US business interests in the global economy. In 1997, the NFTC was instrumental in the founding of USA*Engage, a coalition of business interests including the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, opposed to unilateral sanctions against foreign regimes. This organization has focused on US government trade policy relating to Myanmar, Sudan, Iran and other nations accused of permitting or promoting human rights violations. Other recent policy initiatives include lobbying in support of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) through the Hispanic Alliance for Free Trade, an umbrella group organized by the NFTC; support of United States business interests in South Africa through its sponsorship of the US South Africa Business Council; continued representation of American export business interests at the World Trade Organization's Doha round of negotiations. Through its Human Resources initiative, the Council has explored issues surrounding the human resource management of global business interests, particularly compensation and benefits for mobile executives and relocated employees of US companies.