Trans-Atlantic trade

This article is about the modern international trade system. For the historic trade practices involving human enslavement, see Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Trans-Atlantic trade refers to trade that involves African, Asian and Latin American economies' mercantile interactions with the Western World. It is typically distinct from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which is generally understood to be of a different era and range of goods sold.^[1]

Transnational corporations of the 19th and 20th century feature prominently in this trade, and in many parts of the world it has considerably weakened many historic long-distance trade systems, like the famous Silk Road trade in Asia or the Trans-Sahara trade route systems in Africa. Most of the products traded in Trans-Atlantic trade were and are made in Europe. The transnational corporations, many based in developing countries, created distribution channels of finished products and flooded their markets. Trans-Atlantic trade also includes exports of raw materials to Europe for manufacturing purposes.^[1]