On the other hand, Roosevelt undermined his own pro-trade position, first by publicly postponing any reduction in American tariffs until 1934, and more immediately by allowing the dollar to go into free fall.47 To limit the damage the British desperately tried to persuade Roosevelt to agree to a stabilization of the dollar–sterling rate, at a level close to that prevailing before 1931. But on 3 July President Roosevelt delivered his so-called ‘bomb-shell telegram’, letting it be known that a dollar stabilization was out of the question. The recovery of the United States had absolute priority,
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