He wanted to create a world economy that was open to everyone and not just a few. For example, in his vision of open trade, Wilson wanted all of the European nations to have access to trading in China as opposed to carving up and dividing China into separate European colonies. In this model, any country could go in and trade with China. Woodrow Wilson wanted this system of open trade for not just China but for every country. He also introduced the idea of self-determination for the East European countries that were currently being occupied and forced to share one nation with peoples of other ethnic backgrounds.
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points was revolutionary for his time. Unfortunately, the world that Wilson envisioned would not be possible with the world he lived in. The European nations did agree to allow nations in Eastern Europe, such as Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and the areas of the Ottoman Empire, to be restored under self-determination and obtain open access to the seas. The European powers acknowledged the fact that these countries had ruled themselves for long enough before they became mandates that they could handle becoming a country ruled only by its