The Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement was signed on 25 April 1938 by

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It aimed to resolve the

Anglo-Irish Trade War The Anglo-Irish Trade War (also called the Economic War) was a retaliatory trade war between the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1938. The Irish government refused to continue reimbursing Britain with land annuities from fi ...

which had been on-going from 1933.

Scope

The prime minister Neville Chamberlain summarised the 4 possible areas for discussion in a debate on the Eire Bill held on 5 May 1938: "The first was the question of partition; the second, of defence; the third, finance; and the fourth, trade.''" Partition was considered by him to be a matter to be resolved between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Chamberlain summed up that: "''In spite of all the controversies of the past and all the heat that has been generated, this country and Eire cannot do without one another. Our natural interests and our geographical position inevitably tend to bring us together, and what has kept us apart has been, not a divergence of interests, but something which ought to be far less important, and that is a difference of opinion.''"

Terms of the Agreement

The treaty abolished the 20% tariffs that both the United Kingdom and Ireland placed on their respective imported goods. Ireland was also to pay a final one time £10 million sum to the United Kingdom for the "land annuities" derived from financial loans originally granted to Irish tenant farmers by the British government to enable them purchase lands under the Land Acts pre-1922, a provision which was part of the 1921

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

(to compensate Anglo-Irish land-owners for compulsory purchase of their lands in Ireland mainly through the

Land Acts Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

introduced by governments of the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1909). The Trade Agreement was portrayed as advantageous for the newly reconstituted Irish state, as the remaining land annuities liability under a 1925 agreement was £11.75 millions (in annual repayments of £250,000 over sixty years). The apparently favourable saving of £1,175,000 was made much of on the Irish side, but more than matched what the British would have gradually lost over the 47 years, if the value was discounted on the ''

Time value of money The time value of money is the widely accepted conjecture that there is greater benefit to receiving a sum of money now rather than an identical sum later. It may be seen as an implication of the later-developed concept of time preference. The ...

'' basis. It was convenient for both sides to close the matter. The United Kingdom also transferred to the government of Ireland the

Treaty Ports Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

(Queenstown ( Cobh),

Berehaven Castletownbere () is a town in County Cork in Ireland. It is located on the Beara Peninsula by Berehaven Harbour. It is also known as Castletown Berehaven. A regionally important fishing port, the town also serves as a commercial and retail hub ...

and

Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...

). The use of these ports had been retained by the United Kingdom under the

that ended the

Anglo-Irish War The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mi ...

. The Trade Agreement, including the return of the Treaty Ports, was given effect in the United Kingdom through the Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act 1938.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Dáil Éireann - Volume 71 - 27 April, 1938
an
Dáil Éireann - Volume 71 - 28 April, 1938
— Dáil debate on the treaty ratification.
Finance (Agreement with United Kingdom) Act 1938
—

Act of the Oireachtas The law of Ireland consists of constitutional, statute, and common law. The highest law in the State is the Constitution of Ireland, from which all other law derives its authority. The Republic has a common-law legal system with a written const ...

giving effect to the treaty. Ireland–United Kingdom relations Economic history of the Republic of Ireland Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations 1938 in Ireland 1938 in the United Kingdom Treaties concluded in 1938 1938 in economics Commercial treaties Trade in the United Kingdom Trade in the Republic of Ireland 1938 in British law Bilateral treaties of Ireland Bilateral treaties of the United Kingdom Interwar-period treaties