Trade has not ceased to be the single most important activity that brings people together voluntarily. Naturally, this voluntary exchange rests on a market principle based on a willing seller and a willing buyer at an agreed price.

At the height of their glory, many pre-colonial African states and empires found trade to be a better way to prosperity than conquests. Gold was shipped from Wangara in the Upper Niger across the Sahara desert to Taghaza, in Western Sahara, in exchange for salt, and to Egypt for ceramics, silks and other Asian and European goods. The old Ghana empire controlled much of the trans-Sahara trade in copper and ivory. At Great Zimbabwe, gold was traded for Chinese pottery and glass. From Nigeria, leather and iron goods were traded throughout West Africa.

Today, many trading posts have been brought together through conventions and rules, culminating in the establishment of a supra-national authority such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Globalized trade has lessened suspicion, promoted multiculturalism and peace. Nonetheless, we are at the edge of losing it to special interests groups and lobbyists seeking all manner of favours from the WTO and individual member nations. The inability of the WTO to revive the collapsed Doha trade talks points to the deep schism and mistrust among trading nations. Such staggering inertia in deepening trade ties has been made worse by the global financial difficulties.