ABSTRACT
The financial requirements of wartime and concerns about Germany's potential as an economic rival in the post-war environment raised concerns about Britain's relative economic position and lowered the attractiveness of free trade arguments about lower prices and the aggregate gains from trade. In contrast, tariff reformers, Dominion politicians and many members of the Conservative Party saw the Paris Conference as an opportunity to use the war and Allied pressure to implement protectionist policies within the British Empire. The Japanese government – which had been allowing trade with German and Austrian nationals prior to the conference – tepidly endorsed the Paris Conference's wartime measures and pointedly refused to commit itself to any policy that extended past the cessation of hostilities. British policymakers were extremely sensitive to their dependence on imports and financing from the United States.
