Tariff and Trade Patterns

The years after the war confronted Britain with an enormous challenge. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has calculated that during the two world wars, and the years immediately following, the United States (US) national income grew at an average annual rate of 4 per cent while the national incomes of the United Kingdom (UK), France and Germany remained unchanged. Large gains were also made during the war years by neutral countries, particularly Sweden and Switzerland, and semi-industrialised Commonwealth countries, such as Canada. The British Government recognised that an international body that could help to prevent competitive tariff wars could be an important medium through which to raise the level of world trade. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe was established on this basis and hence its field of action was circumscribed from the start. The opportunity was not seized partly because Britain was still the dominant economic power in Western Europe.