The Trade Federation is an interstellar guild composed of dozens of private corporations based in the New Shi'ar Imperium, the Systems Commonwealth, and the Interplanetary Neo-British Kingdom. The Federation's main purpose is to promote interplanetary trade with it's Hyperdrive-equipped fleet of Asteroid ships, Bulk cruisers, and Corellian saucers. The Trade Federation fleet even includes four or five Imperial Star Destroyers. The Trade Federation is also well-known for it's rather unusual policy of using robotic Droids as soldiers and armed security guards.
It sometimes has dealings with Space Gypsies and the Rebel Alliance, and engages in smuggling operations within the Kurgan Caliphate, the Cylon Sector, and the Sontaran Dominion, even though all three of these places have banned the Federation.
It has hired Orks, Mandalorians, Rodians, and others as mercenaries in order to help fight other Orks, the United Pirate Clans, interplanetary governments, and other criminal elements.