1932年のイギリス輸入関税法とオタワ特恵協定の成立
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概要
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In the midsummer of 1931, Britain was in the midst of a severe financial crisis which in the end forced her to abandon the gold standard. In February 1932, within six months after this event, the British Government introduced the Import Duties Bill and adopted full trade protection. These policy turnabouts revolutionized British external economic relations. The Sterling area emerged and the imperial preferential system came into existence after the Ottawa Conference. This paper aims to clarify the economic motives of these dramatic changes of British policy, particularly focusing on the Import Duties Act and the Ottawa Preferential Agreements. As is generally known, the primary motive for import tariffs was to protect British industry and to combat unemployment. Under the impact of the 1931 financial crisis, however, the debate about tariffs began to centre on the problems of the trade deficit and the depreciation of the value of the pound. At the general election in October, the Conservative manifesto adopted the balance of trade argument for tariffs. After the sweeping victory of the Conservatives, the Government set up the Cabinet Committee on the Balance of Trade in December 1931. The report of the Committee disclosed that in 1931, Britain's current-account balance moved into serious deficit due to the decrease in the net receipt from invisible exports, and recommended a general tariff to remedy the trade deficit and to restore confidence in sterling by improving the balance of payments. After the Import Duties Act was enacted, the Ottawa Conference was held between 20 July and 21 August 1932. The primary object of the British delegation at Ottawa was to promote the exports to the Dominions in return for preferences granted under the Import Duties Act. During the world-wide depression and the collapse of primary prices, the heavily indebted Dominions were anxious to increase their trade surplus with Britain. As a result of the Dominions' hard bargaining, Britain had to make more generous trade concessions to the Dominions than they made to her. The most striking feature of the trade-diverting effect of the Ottawa Agreements was the sharp increase in the proportion of British imports from the Dominions. The deterioration in British trade balances with the Dominions, however, enabled them to avoid default and to rebuild their London balances, thus strengthening the financial unity of the Empire. Britain's principal efforts in the 1930s were directed not to protect British industry, but to restore the stability of sterling and to take the initiative in forming a sterling bloc on the basis of confidence in sterling.
- 2010-10-30