ABSTRACT
For most of the 20th century, Australia’s trade policy centred on a high protective tariff for manufactured goods, accompanied by preferential trading under British imperial preferences. The United Kingdom was the major trading partner in the first half of the 1900s, but its relative importance declined rapidly after 1945.1 The British market was especially important for Australian farmers and pastoralists, until British accession to the European common market in 1973 led to Australian agricultural exporters facing poorer access than European competitors.
