International Trade Mart
Encyclopedia
The International Trade Mart is an organization promoting international trade
and the Port of New Orleans
.
The World Trade Mart was chartered in 1945, first opened its doors in 1948, and in 1985, merged with International House to form the World Trade Center New Orleans
, a private, non-profit organization
with a membership of 2,000 corporations and individuals dedicated to improving trade with New Orleans, Louisiana
.
Like its predecessor organizations, the WTC continues to sponsor trade missions to Latin America
n and Caribbean
nations to conduct a variety of educational programs, conferences, seminars, and trade shows and to host dignitaries and other visitors from New Orleans' trade partner nations. The WTC's work is conducted from its 33-story headquarters at the foot of Canal Street
.
Trade expansionists advanced their cause further by forming the International Trade Mart (ITM). They intended that IH [International House] and ITM would complement each other and together would form the international program's foundation. The mart satisfied a longstanding ambition for an institution that could exhibit commodities and could provide a setting where buyer and seller could meet easily in New Orleans.
Since the city lacked a manufacturing base, buyers from, say, Mexico might--absent a mart in New Orleans--travel to, say, Toledo to purchase steel or glass. The resulting trade might well bypass New Orleans. But the mart, thought trade expansionists, would maximize the port's chances of handling this trade.
New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw
, notable for being tried for conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy
, is claimed to be the driving force behind the founding of the International Trade Mart.
International trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
and the Port of New Orleans
Port of New Orleans
The Port of New Orleans is a port located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the 1st in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 13th largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo...
.
World Trade Center New Orleans
Prior to June 2011, the World Trade Center of New Orleans was housed in the historic World Trade Center Building, located at 2 Canal Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana...
, a private, non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
with a membership of 2,000 corporations and individuals dedicated to improving trade with New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
Like its predecessor organizations, the WTC continues to sponsor trade missions to Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n and Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
nations to conduct a variety of educational programs, conferences, seminars, and trade shows and to host dignitaries and other visitors from New Orleans' trade partner nations. The WTC's work is conducted from its 33-story headquarters at the foot of Canal Street
Canal Street, New Orleans
Canal Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter , it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District.The...
.
Trade expansionists advanced their cause further by forming the International Trade Mart (ITM). They intended that IH [International House] and ITM would complement each other and together would form the international program's foundation. The mart satisfied a longstanding ambition for an institution that could exhibit commodities and could provide a setting where buyer and seller could meet easily in New Orleans.
Since the city lacked a manufacturing base, buyers from, say, Mexico might--absent a mart in New Orleans--travel to, say, Toledo to purchase steel or glass. The resulting trade might well bypass New Orleans. But the mart, thought trade expansionists, would maximize the port's chances of handling this trade.
New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw
Clay Shaw
Clay Laverne Shaw was a businessman in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the only person prosecuted in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was found not guilty.-Biography:...
, notable for being tried for conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, is claimed to be the driving force behind the founding of the International Trade Mart.