International Trade

[Neal5x5]

Historically, after a major die-off of the population from plague or other means, the major economic event to occur is inflation. There are fewer people to work, therefore employers compete for workers and are forced to increase wages to remain competative. This drives up wages as well as demand for goods and services.

I don't have a reference handy, but IIRC, following one of the more unpleasant bouts of Black Death in Europe, local wages doubled and then tripled in the space of a single year. It also inspired a few revolutions that limited the power of the local nobles. I'll have to see if I can dig that out of my library when I get home.

As to how this impacts trade, you would have small populations of people with more wealth that wanted, and had the ability to pay for, goods and services that otherwise might not have been practical, such as coffee, machine parts, etc.