In the late 1940s, officials of the U.S. State Department launched a campaign for the creation of the International Trade Organization (ITO). This new organization will monitor global negotiations on trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, cartels and commodity agreements, and it will complement the IMF and World Bank, both of which were established at a conference in Bretton Woods in 1944 to address the international financial flows. However, the IMF, the World Bank and the ITO will include a comprehensive system to manage international economic affairs. As it turned out, however, the proposed ITO proved extremely controversial in the United States and around the world. When President Truman finally sent ITO Charter to Congress in 1949, the legislators had to decide whether to approve the product of three years of intensive international negotiations or just let it die unceremonious death in Washington, DC "Hide
by David Moss, George Appling, Andrew Archer Source: Harvard Business School 25 pages. Publication Date: February 27, 1998. Prod. #: 798057-PDF-ENG