Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Tables
- Introduction
- 1 Britain's international economic position in the 1920s
- 2 The political economy of protectionism
- 3 Imperial preference and the Ottawa Conference
- 4 The Scandinavian negotiations: formulation of policy
- 5 Completion of the first phase of negotiations: Scandinavia, Germany and Argentina
- 6 The world economic conference, Finland and Japanese competition
- 7 The Baltic states and Poland
- 8 British agricultural policy and imports during the 1930s
- 9 British exports to the trade agreement countries
- 10 Appeasing Germany and the United States
- 11 Some general conclusions
- Appendix A United Kingdom: payments, clearing etc., Agreements in force 1931–1938
- Appendix B Miscellaneous trade and payments agreements
- Appendix C Imports into Britain from foreign agreement countries
- Appendix D Total exports from Britain to foreign agreement countries and four dominions
- Appendix E Imports of selected commodities into UK, 1931, 1937, showing percentage from Empire sources
- Bibliography
- Index
10 - Appeasing Germany and the United States
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Tables
- Introduction
- 1 Britain's international economic position in the 1920s
- 2 The political economy of protectionism
- 3 Imperial preference and the Ottawa Conference
- 4 The Scandinavian negotiations: formulation of policy
- 5 Completion of the first phase of negotiations: Scandinavia, Germany and Argentina
- 6 The world economic conference, Finland and Japanese competition
- 7 The Baltic states and Poland
- 8 British agricultural policy and imports during the 1930s
- 9 British exports to the trade agreement countries
- 10 Appeasing Germany and the United States
- 11 Some general conclusions
- Appendix A United Kingdom: payments, clearing etc., Agreements in force 1931–1938
- Appendix B Miscellaneous trade and payments agreements
- Appendix C Imports into Britain from foreign agreement countries
- Appendix D Total exports from Britain to foreign agreement countries and four dominions
- Appendix E Imports of selected commodities into UK, 1931, 1937, showing percentage from Empire sources
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
By late 1936 German competition was manifesting itself in several unwelcome ways. The British government's response was made within the context of anxieties about the effect of rearmament on the domestic economy, particularly its likely impact on inflation and the balance of payments, the conflicting pressures for trade liberalisation and more effective protection, and with a worsening political-strategic position that created its own impetus for economic appeasement. One result was the Anglo-American trade agreement of November 1938 which has been interpreted by some as marking the end of the Ottawa system. If so, this view can only be accepted with considerable reservations: although there were arguments and even pressures for liberalisation, they were never decisive, for not only was the treaty the product of diplomatic imperatives but the actual form of the agreement between Britain and the USA was distinctly illiberal.
German competition
In hammering out future agricultural policy in 1936–7, levy-subsidy schemes had been opposed on the grounds that they were likely to accelerate inflation, thus endangering Britain's international competitiveness, and that they were likely to alienate trade partners. With the trade agreements coming up for renewal, Whitehall was anxious to keep any modifications to them to a minimum, not least because the UK's bargaining leverage was no longer as strong as it had been in 1932–3. A major cause of Britain's weaker position was the expansion of Germany's buying power and the resurgence of German international economic competition.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- British Protectionism and the International EconomyOverseas Commercial Policy in the 1930s, pp. 275 - 306Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993