The Trade Wars were a series of skirmishes in the Cularin system concurrent with the blockade and Battle of Naboo (32 BBY). Two of the Federation-aligned species, the Caarites and the Filordi, feared the consequences of a possible failure in the Naboo operation, so they left to create their own, similar organization, the Metatheran Cartel. The Cartel tried to take control of the business in planet Cularin from the Federation's hands, by exposing the Federation's unfriendly policies and by competing with them. The Cartel also invited the Sullustans and other species to operate in the system.