Free trade, in modern usage, trade or commerce carried on without such restrictions as import duties, export bounties, domestic production subsidies, trade quotas, or import licenses. The basi...

Trade, traffic in goods. Conducted by gift, barter, or sale, trade is one of the most widespread of all social institutions. The discovery of nonlocal objects at many archaeological sites stro...

Balance of trade, relation between the merchandise exports and imports of a country. The concept first became important in the 16th and 17th cent. with the growth of mercantilism. Mercantilist...

North Dakota, state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Minnesota, across the Red River of the North (E), South Dakota (S), Montana (W), and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewa...

Mulroney, Brian (Martin Brian Mulroney), 1939–, Canadian prime minister (1984–93). Raised in Quebec in a working class family, Mulroney was a successful bilingual lawyer who became active in p...

Mexico, Span. México or Méjico, officially United Mexican States, republic (2005 est. pop. 106,203,000), 753,665 sq mi (1,952,500 sq km), S North America. It borders on the United States in th...

North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Po...

Bentsen, Lloyd Millard, Jr., 1921–2006, American political leader and U.S. secretary of the treasury (1993–94), b. Mission, Tex. He received a law degree from the Univ. of Texas in 1942 and se...

North West Company, fur-trading organization in North America in the late 18th and early 19th cent.; it was composed of Montreal trading firms and fur traders. After the conquest of Canada by ...

Salinas de Gortari, Carlos, 1948–, president of Mexico (1988–94). A Harvard-educated political economist, he became minister of planning and the budget (1982–87) and succeeded Miguel de la Mad...