British Protectionism and the International Economy Overseas Commercial Policy in the 1930s

Examines the forces behind the British abandonment of free trade in the 1930s and the way protection was used to bargain for trade advantages.

When, in the winter of 1931–2, Britain abandoned first the gold standard and then free trade, two potent symbols of her nineteenth-century international economic predominance had gone within the space of little more than six months. Tim Rooth's comprehensive 1993 study in the political economy of protectionism examines the forces behind the abandonment of free trade and the way that Britain then used protection to bargain for trade advantages in the markets of her chief suppliers of food and raw materials. Dr Rooth also examines Britain's economic relations with Germany and the USA in the deteriorating international political situation of the late 1930s. The retreat from multilateral trade policies, the growth of protection and the concomitant development of regional economic groupings have obvious parallels with current developments in the world economy.

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.

Tim Rooth's comprehensive study examines the forces behind the British abandonment of free trade in the 1930s and discusses the way that Britain used protection to bargain for trade advantages in the markets of her chief suppliers of food and raw materials. This historical study has obvious parallels with current developments in world trade.