> "In May 1930, Canada, the country's most loyal trading partner, retaliated by imposing new tariffs on 16 products that accounted altogether for around 30% of US exports to Canada.[15] Canada later also forged closer economic links with the British Empire via the British Empire Economic Conference of 1932. France and Britain protested and developed new trade partners. Germany developed a system of autarky."
Autarky doesn't help trade for sure.
> "US imports decreased 66% from $4.4 billion (1929) to $1.5 billion (1933), and exports decreased 61% from $5.4 billion to $2.1 billion. GNP fell from $103.1 billion in 1929 to $75.8 billion in 1931 and bottomed out at $55.6 billion in 1933.[18] Imports from Europe decreased from a 1929 high of $1.3 billion to just $390 million during 1932, while US exports to Europe decreased from $2.3 billion in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade decreased by some 66% between 1929 and 1934.[19]"
Historical experiments are hard to make but looking at what happened back then there is a chance that peoples not talking to each other make them less friendly and more prone to go at war.
Looking at https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c4280.html
USA-Germany, million of dollars
1985 Exports: 9,050.2 Imports: 20,239.2
2015 Exports: 44,997.8 Imports: 104,553.9
It grew 5 times in 20 years. I'm googling for the value in the 30s and can't find it quicky enough.
My bet is that it was much lower because according to http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/imts/Historical%20data%2019... the whole imports of Germany were 2,188 million of dollars. The total exports were 2,111 million USD.
You'll also notice US imports and exports plummeting in the 30s. It seems a consequence of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Ac... which "raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods". Then
> "In May 1930, Canada, the country's most loyal trading partner, retaliated by imposing new tariffs on 16 products that accounted altogether for around 30% of US exports to Canada.[15] Canada later also forged closer economic links with the British Empire via the British Empire Economic Conference of 1932. France and Britain protested and developed new trade partners. Germany developed a system of autarky."
Autarky doesn't help trade for sure.
> "US imports decreased 66% from $4.4 billion (1929) to $1.5 billion (1933), and exports decreased 61% from $5.4 billion to $2.1 billion. GNP fell from $103.1 billion in 1929 to $75.8 billion in 1931 and bottomed out at $55.6 billion in 1933.[18] Imports from Europe decreased from a 1929 high of $1.3 billion to just $390 million during 1932, while US exports to Europe decreased from $2.3 billion in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade decreased by some 66% between 1929 and 1934.[19]"
Historical experiments are hard to make but looking at what happened back then there is a chance that peoples not talking to each other make them less friendly and more prone to go at war.