The records of the National Foreign Trade Council [NTFC] chronicle US corporate policy toward the most pressing issues of foreign trade in the 20th century, from the Council's initial charge in 1914 to "coordinate the foreign trade activities of the nation." Records prior to the 1936 incorporation are slight, and the Council's activities in that period relate almost exclusively to negotiations of funding agreements with Latin-American trading partners of various member companies. The Council became progressively more active, and its records more substantial, in the immediate pre-war period and especially in the period of trade reconstruction immediately following the Second World War. From this period up until the present date, the Council is one of the most significant and influential trade associations dealing exclusively with foreign trade, with a membership representing the largest and most profitable American companies with significant foreign trade interests, as well as many multinational corporations based in America. Its records document corporate interests and influence on U.S. government policies in the taxation and regulation of foreign trade, the promotion of free-market policies, and U.S. participation in the negotiation of international trade treaties. The records of the National Foreign Trade Council are described separately by subgroups or series and may be traced by searching the call number "2345." Many NFTC and other publications in the records are cataloged individually by author and title as well as call number.