ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the beginning of European timber cartel negotiations. The League of Nations had shown interest towards creating coordination mechanisms in timber market since the Wold Economic Conference of 1927, and finally in spring 1932 it managed to organise an international timber conference. This chapter shows that the exporters in the biggest timber producing countries—Finland and Sweden— opposed the regulation plans of the League of Nations. However, for diplomatic reasons the countries did not object the League of Nations’ conference. This chapter shows that, besides the League of Nations cartel policies, the British Imperial Trade Negotiations in 1932 contributed in the development of international timber cartel negotiations. As part of these negotiations, Canada had managed to bargain an importing act known as the Article 21 to UK, which essentially was targeted towards the Soviet Union. The British government was not eager to use the act, however, and became a supporter of regulation scheme between the timber exporting countries. This put new pressure on the Nordic countries to align with international timber negotiations, showing that ripening of British protectionism and emergence of international trade wars intertwined with private cartels in a new way.
