ABSTRACT
The decades from World War I until the outbreak of World War II saw radical changes in the international economy, including the spread of trade protectionism, the imposition of exchange controls, the collapse of capital mobility and the decline in commodity prices. As the US grew to be the world’s largest industrial power entrenched behind the world’s highest tariff barriers, the British remained committed to free trade, only introducing tariffs from 1919. Heavier tariffs were introduced from 1931, by which time staple industries such as textiles had been devastated by foreign imports.
