The Lunar Trade Association (LTA) was an association of international corporations that had been granted exclusive access to the Lunar colony by the in exchange for helping to fund the colony. These corporations formed the LTA in 2027, to help them protect their lunar interests, specifically maintaining their control over lunar commerce and industry. Prominent members of the LTA included XMC, an exotic-materials manufacuring corporation, and Intel Corp.
The LTA corporations controlled almost all aspects of the economic life of the Lunar colony. They owned most of the residential and commercial areas, managed the intracolony transit system and were the sole source of employment for the colonists. The restrictions on the economic development imposed by the LTA were one of the reasons that the was formed. The LTA was one of the three organizations that participated in the .
After the negotiations collapsed, the LTA did not maintain its economic control over the Moon colony for long. When the colony was finally granted independence, in 2102, the infrastructure that the LTA had owned and managed was given to the new Lunar goverment. The Lunar government opened the lunar market to the corporations the LTA had locked out of it. Soon after this happened, the LTA disbanded permanently.