The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II, months before the US entered the war. The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of the United States and the United Kingdom for the postwar world as follows: no territorial aggrandizement, no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people (self-determination), restoration of self-government to those deprived of it, reduction of trade restrictions, global co-operation to secure better economic and social conditions for all, freedom from fear and want, freedom of the seas, abandonment of the use of force, and disarmament of aggressor nations. The charter's adherents signed the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, which was the basis for the modern United Nations.
The charter inspired several other international agreements and events after the war. The dismantling of the British Empire, the formation of NATO, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade all derived from the Atlantic Charter. In 2021, a document titled the New Atlantic Charter was signed by United States president Joe Biden and British prime minister Boris Johnson in their first meeting in Cornwall.
The Allies of World War II first expressed their principles and vision for the world after the war in the Declaration of St. James's Palace in June 1941. The Anglo-Soviet Agreement was signed in July 1941 and formed an alliance between the two countries.
United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill discussed what would become the Atlantic Charter in August 1941 during the Atlantic Conference in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. They made their joint declaration on 14 August 1941 from the US naval base on the bay, Naval Base Argentia, which had recently been leased from Britain as part of the Destroyers-for-bases deal. The US did not enter the war as a combatant until the attack on Pearl Harbor, four months later.