‘What Are We Doing to Earn Dollars?’

The Dominions, with the key exception of Canada, were members of the Sterling Area, which meant they continued to be connected to an economic system centred on London after 1945. However, this system was challenged by the disastrous economic effects of world war on the British economy, waves of decolonization, the development of trade liberalization with the emergence of GATT, and the declining importance of intra-Commonwealth trade. Chapter 4 focuses on how existing networks such as the Congresses of Chambers of the Commonwealth and Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conferences tried to move away from their earlier focus on ‘British World’ links to include Asians and Africans in policymaking. Such efforts had little success, and business associations increasingly focused on promoting regional rather than imperial trade, fuelled by the growing influence of the EEC and UN regional commissions.