What was the economic war between Ireland and Britain?

The economic war between Ireland and Britain was a trade conflict that began in 1932 after Éamon de Valera, as head of the Irish government, withheld the payment of land annuities to the British treasury. These annuities were repayments of loans originally advanced to Irish tenant farmers to purchase their land under the Land Acts of 1891–1909.12

In retaliation for the withheld payments, the British government imposed import duties on most Irish exports to the United Kingdom in July 1932, and the Irish government responded with reciprocal tariffs. While Britain was the financial beneficiary of this dispute, the conflict politically benefited de Valera’s Fianna Fáil party; it allowed them to frame their protectionist economic policies within patriotic rhetoric and blame Britain for the resulting recession.21

The economic war concluded in April 1938, when de Valera negotiated a series of agreements with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. These included a finance agreement that settled the land annuities dispute and a trade agreement that softened the tariffs, alongside a defense agreement that saw Britain relinquish control of three naval bases in Ireland.12