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Struggling against Decline: British Business in Chile, 1919–33

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2000

JONATHAN R. BARTON
Affiliation:
School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia

Abstract

British business in Latin America struggled throughout the inter-war period, affected by the First World War, aggressive US trade strategies and a dated British commercial support structure that had turned its attentions to imperial markets. Chamber of Commerce archive material reveals the frustrations of the British business community in Chile as hard-won markets were lost to well-supported US firms and returning German competition, as a consequence of weak political, financial and marketing support. Against a backdrop of British commercial decline worldwide, the Chilean case echoes the experiences of businessmen across Latin America's non-imperial markets. As the British government dallied, US business established an unassailable position.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I am grateful to Rory Miller, the staff of the British and US Chambers of Commerce in Santiago, and the Chilean Foreign Office archive section for their valuable assistance. The LSE Research Fund provided financial support for the field work.