Imperial Markets: The Anglo-Rhodesian Tobacco Trade in the Aftermath of World War II

The post-World War II dollar crisis had far-reaching implications for the global tobacco leaf trade. Prior to the war, the US dominated the trade as the biggest exporter of leaf, with the UK as the major destination. The UK postwar balance-of-payments disequilibrium stimulated a switch to Southern Rhodesia as its supplier of tobacco. Through a deal cut between UK tobacco manufacturers and the Southern Rhodesian tobacco industry, the former progressively replaced the US as the biggest supplier of leaf to the factories of Britain. With its dominance in the global tobacco trade threatened, and under pressure from its powerful agricultural lobby, the US responded by launching a vigorous campaign for markets. This chapter uses mainly archival materials from the National Archives of Zimbabwe and newspaper reports to offer Southern Rhodesian perspectives on the contested relations among the triad of the UK, US, and Southern Rhodesia in the postwar global tobacco leaf trade. By so doing, the chapter casts broader light on postwar global trade dynamics, imperial-colonial relations, and contradictions in US foreign economic policy.