Philippine E-Journals

Manuel L. Quezon and Economic Protectionism, 1935-1941

Aruna Gopinath

Discipline: Social Science, History

 

Abstract:

Economics was a fundamental issue in the politics of the relationship between the Philippines and the United States in the period prior to and during the Commonwealth government. Philippine nationalists realized from an early date that unless the basis of the commercial link with the United States was undefined to benefit the Philippines, the grant of any form of political freedom to the Islands would be meaningless. The reluctance of the United States Congress to allow Filipinos effective control over tariff policies enormously increased the vulnerability of the Philippine economy to changes in the American market.