ABSTRACT
When cautions are raised against the revival of regionalism today, the reasons are rooted in memories of the trade and currency blocs of the 1930s. In that era, Britain and Germany, and unofficially the United States, were associated with a regional trade arrangement based on each nation’s currency. For example, Britain’s Sterling was the common denominator for its system of “Imperial Preference.” London’s goal – through tariff, banking, and other advantages – was to foster British industry; to tighten the linkages among the nations of the Empire (today’s British Commonwealth); and generally to militate against outsiders. Similarly, Germany utilized trade, and its currency, the Reichsmark, to promote German exports; enhance Germany’s self-sufficiency (“autarky”); and link several Central European nations to Berlin. Finally, several Latin American nations and Canada were loosely but not formally connected to Washington by means of the US dollar.
