ABSTRACT
International trade is perhaps the least controversial of the sterling area relationships. Certainly, the possible impact of these trade flows on the British economy has generated a smaller literature than the sterling balances or longterm capital flows. In part this may be because the impact of British trade with the sterling area on the long-term competitiveness of British exports is difficult to quantify. Addressing a counterfactual of whether British industry would have been better off if it had been forced to weather the alternating storms and calms of international competition in other markets draws the researcher even further into the realm of imagination than for longterm investment. Some features of sterling area trade flows in this period, however, give insight into the direction of benefit or loss to British industry.
