Wherever archaeologists excavate, they find evidence of human trading going back tens of thousands of years. Over the millennia, as people developed more products to trade and as transportation technology advanced, the exchange of goods happened in greater quantities and over longer distances. The world has been effectively globalised since silver extracted from South American mines ended up in the pockets of Asian spice growers via European merchants 500 years ago. The volume of trade grew relentlessly as Europeans acquired saltwater empires from the 1500s and ocean-going vessels became bigger, faster and safer. Then the 20th century brought a revolution in the history of international commerce. Rather than trade…

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