The Roca–Runciman Treaty was a commercial agreement signed on 1 May 1933 between

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and the United Kingdom signed in

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by the Vice President of Argentina, Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and the president of the British

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, Sir Walter Runciman. As a byproduct of Black Tuesday and the Wall Street crash of 1929, the United Kingdom, principal economic partner of Argentina in the 1920s and 1930s, took measures to protect the meat supply market in the

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. At the

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negotiations in

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, bowing to pressure, mainly from Australia and South Africa, Britain decided to severely curtail imports of Argentine beef. The idea was to enact monthly cuts of 5% during the first year of the agreement. The plan provoked an immediate outcry in Buenos Aires, and the government dispatched Vice-President Roca and a team of negotiators to London. On 1 May 1933, they concluded a bilateral treaty known as the ''Roca-Runciman Treaty''. The

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ratified this agreement by Law #11,693. The treaty lasted three years and was renewed as the Eden-Malbrán Treaty of 1936, which gave additional concessions to Britain in return for lower freight rates on wheat. The treaty ensured beef

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quotas that were equivalent to the levels sold in 1932 (the lowest point in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

), strengthening the commercial ties between Argentina and Britain. # Argentina was assured of an export quota of no less than 390,000 metric tonnes of refrigerated beef, but 85% of the beef exports were to be made through foreign meat packers. Britain "would be agreeable to permit" the participation of Argentine meat packers of up to 15%. # Argentina would give to British companies "a benevolent treatment towards insuring the greatest economic development of the country and the deserved protection to the interests of these companies." # As long as there were currency controls in Argentina (limiting the sending of money abroad), everything that Britain would pay for purchases in Argentina could be returned to the country by deducting a percentage from payments to the foreign debt. # Argentina would keep free of duties imports of

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and other goods imported from Britain at the time and vowed to buy coal only from Britain. # Argentina agreed not to increase import duties on all British goods or reduce the fees paid to the British railways in Argentina and exemptions from certain labour legislation, such as the funding of pension programmes. The treaty had strong political repercussions in Argentina later triggering a conflict from the denunciations of Senator Lisandro de la Torre. From the treaty, Britain's exporters received more benefits than Argentinian exporters. For only the promise of purchasing Argentine beef at the reduced levels of the Depression era, Argentina agreed to reduce tariffs on almost 350 British goods to the rates of 1930 and to refrain from imposing duties on main imports such as coal, as already mentioned.

Source: Colin, Lewis – ''"Anglo-Argentine Trade 1945-1965"''
as quoted in ''"Argentina in the Twentieth Century"'' by David Rock (London 1975) pg 115

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roca-Runciman Treaty Infamous Decade Argentina–United Kingdom treaties Economic history of Argentina 1933 in Argentina 1933 in the United Kingdom Treaties concluded in 1933 1945 disestablishments Interwar-period treaties May 1933 in the United Kingdom Eponymous treaties May 1933 in South America