[2][3] Formally a semi-private joint-stock company and American corporation, Amtorg occupied a unique position in the market as the single purchaser for a communist state.

Amtorg handled almost all exports from the USSR, comprising mostly lumber, furs, flax, bristles, and caviar, and all imports of raw materials and machinery for Soviet industry and agriculture.

), Freyn Engineering, DuPont de Nemours, Radio Corporation of America, and more than a hundred other companies during the first five-year plan, taking advantage of the desperate condition of the American economy during the Great Depression.

During World War II, Amtorg handled the flow of military supplies to the Soviet Union, including armaments, raw materials, food, and uniforms, under the Lend-Lease program.

[19][a] During the Cold War years, the scope of Amtorg's enterprise was more limited, but it continued to conduct its business at 49 West 37th Street, in New York City, maintaining a skeleton staff.