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
11 - Some general conclusions
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
The trade agreements were a by-product of Britain's adoption of protection in 1931–2. The prime motive for tariffs was the protection of British industry in its home market, and for that reason the success or failure, wisdom or folly of the policy must be assessed mainly in terms of its dominant objective. An indication of the secondary role of the trade agreements in the government's economic strategy was the small size of the Commercial Relations and Treaties Department of the Board of Trade. This limited the number of trade negotiations that could be conducted at any one time, and was criticised not only within Whitehall by the Foreign Office, but was the subject of some quiet and partly successful campaigning by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
Neutralising the impact of international deflation
Yet the overall effects of protection cannot be assessed purely in terms of its impact on domestic production, employment and incomes through reducing imports. One of the long-standing arguments against tariffs is that they are likely to encourage retaliation against exports. By giving a further twist to the protectionist spiral, by encouraging ‘beggar-my-neighbour’ policies, any benefits that protection brings through the curtailment of imports will be countermanded by loss of exports. In the case of Britain in the 1930s the dangers were all the greater because of its central position in the international economy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- British Protectionism and the International EconomyOverseas Commercial Policy in the 1930s, pp. 307 - 321Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993