In the era of unsound money, such as in Europe's descent into feudalism or in the modern world's descent into monetary nationalism, trade stops being the prerogative of the transacting individuals and becomes a matter of national importance, requiring the oversight of the feudal lords or governments claiming sovereignty over the trading individuals. So ridiculously complete has this transformation of the nature of trade been that, in the twentieth century, the term free trade came to refer to trade carried out between two individuals across borders, according to terms agreed upon by their
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