Open Door Policy

Open Door Policy, term that refers to the principle of equal trading rights in China at the end of the 19th century. It is also used to describe policies of equal trading rights in other countries. In the late 1800s, the major European powers had obtained control of important areas of China, and it appeared that the country would soon be divided into spheres of influence into which other trading nations would have no access. The United States was unwilling to compete for territory, but desired access to China for trading purposes. Accordingly, in 1899 and 1900 U.S. Secretary of State John Milton Hay negotiated an agreement with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Japan that guaranteed “equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire” and preservation of “Chinese territorial and administrative” integrity.

The open door agreement remained the basis of U.S. policy toward China until the establishment of the Communist regime there in 1949; Japan's violations of it caused friction between that country and the United States before World War II.