Commercial policy in the nineteenth century

A country’s commercial policy determines the nature of its trading relations with the rest of the world. For this reason it is necessary to examine commercial policy in the nineteenth century in some detail before turning to look at the trade flows which, along with the movements of labour and capital, link countries together internationally. Although protectionism was widespread before 1850, and was revived again after 1880, during the intervening period there was a general reduction of restrictions on trade. This movement towards freer trade took place at two levels. At the national level it involved the economic unification of a number of nation states which later came to play a prominent part in international economic affairs. At the international level it involved the widespread adoption of free-trade policies, which reached a peak in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, and which marked the end of the system of privileged trading blocs and restricted commerce characteristic of the growth of the colonial empires of Britain, France, Holland, and Spain in the period before 1800. At both levels the advantages of free trade provided the rationale for the movement towards closer economic and political relations between the areas concerned.