The Structure of U. S. Foreign Trade and her Commercial Policy in the late 19th and early 20th Century

Abstract

It is the purpose of this paper to understand the special nature of the U. S. foreign commercial policy enforced by the administrative power of the Republican party under the reciprocity section of the McKinley Tariff of 1890 and the Dingley Tariff of 1897. On the basis of the results that are aquired through the analysis of the many assertions from the manufacturing interests, the author of this paper, paying carefully attention to the relations between their demand for the adoption of the reciprocity policy and the structural change of U. S. foreign trade beginning in the middle of 1890's., says the following points; (1) The iron and steel manufacturers, the machine manufacturers and the millers, who began to increase their exports to the Central and South American markets, favored the adoption of the reciprocity with these countries in order to expand the foreign markets for their goods under the condition of the intensive foreign competition. (2) The millers and the meat packer, who were compelled to face the paralysis of the export of their goods by the protective policy of the European countries, favored the application of the reciprocity principle to the Commercial relations with these countries, because they hoped to increase their exports to these markets. (3) The iron and steel manufacturers and machine manufacturers, who began to increase the exports in large quantities to the Canadian market, favored the reciprocity with Canada, placing their hope on the reduction of her protective tariff. These demand for the reciprocity policy from many manufacturers, however, were not entirely adopted by the Republican administration and the author concludes that U. S. early reciprocity policy was only made possible within the narrow limit placed under her high protective tariff system.