The institutionalization of trade has been around since the "value theory" of David Ricardo in 1817, which argues that some countries had more feasible conditions to produce a better output of certain products in comparison to others. As a result, they had to engage in trade with other countries that had products they lacked.
"Labor" and "resources" are the key factors that fuel trade. As some countries have a cheaper labor force, it makes their products have competitive prices in the market. On the other hand, certain countries have scarce resources that many other countries do not have such as gold and other minerals. Therefore they have to engage in trade with the countries that extract them from their soil.