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
5 - Completion of the first phase of negotiations: Scandinavia, Germany and Argentina
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
Scandinavia
Britain's bargaining power had already been strong when the preliminary negotiations were held in late 1932. The predominance of the British market for livestock products had been accentuated by a host of protectionist measures in continental Europe. In Scandinavia it was German action that was most damaging. By 1931 the bias within German agricultural protection towards arable farming was as evident as ever, grain tariffs at a rate of 180 to 200 per cent having successfully isolated German prices from the world level. By contrast, the duties on butter and pig products were modest, and the ability of the government to act was limited by tariff agreements with Denmark and the Netherlands. Chancellor Brüning, anyhow, was unwilling to agree to the proposals of his Agriculture Minister, Schiele, for higher duties. The hostile reaction of the peasantry caused the government to change its mind and introduce a quota system for butter imports. German import restrictions had been biting before, but in 1932 German popularity in Scandinavia began to sink further. The announcement by Germany in July that the trade agreement with Sweden would be terminated when it expired in February 1933 was met there with relative equanimity. By the autumn, however, the new British Minister to Sweden, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, was reporting a different mood, a mood also being noted in the German press. Germany was becoming increasingly unpopular in Sweden because of the renunciation of the trade treaty.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- British Protectionism and the International EconomyOverseas Commercial Policy in the 1930s, pp. 126 - 158Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993