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How did Toussaint Louverture negotiate trade with Britain and the United States?

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Toussaint Louverture stands in a military uniform with a feathered hat, holding a document and sword, with soldiers and a landscape in the background. — Toussaint Louverture A formerly enslaved person who became the leading figure of the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture helped lay the foundation for Haiti's independence.

Toussaint Louverture established lucrative trade relations with Britain and the United States as a strategic move to stabilize the economy of Saint-Domingue during the late 1790s.1

Following military losses, the British engaged in secret negotiations with Louverture despite their ongoing war with France. These discussions resulted in treaties in 1798 and 1799 that secured a complete British withdrawal from the colony. Through these agreements, Louverture successfully negotiated the exchange of sugar for essential arms and goods. As part of these arrangements, he promised not to invade Jamaica or the American South.1

While the British attempted to leverage these negotiations by offering to recognize Louverture as the king of an independent Haiti, he refused the title, remaining distrustful of the British due to their continued maintenance of slavery. Louverture’s efforts to secure international trade were part of a broader policy to restore the plantation-based export economy, which involved balancing the interests of formerly enslaved workers and external partners to ensure commercial stability.12