Methuen Treaty the Portuguese to cover their deficit for a time with a colonial gold flow, but the benefits of specialization and trade over the longer term were illusive." The Kingdom of Ireland imported Portuguese wine at the low Methuen tariffs, but was banned under the Navigation Acts from exporting. In 1779, Ireland was granted "free trade", but Portugal imposed higher tariffs on Irish textile imports than on English ones, arguing it was outside the terms of the Methuen treaty. This was a tactic in Portugal's broader attempt to make Britain renegotiate the Methuen treaty. As the dispute dragged on, Ireland imposed
Treaty of Madrid (5 October 1750) in an effort to avoid a repeat of hostilities. Spain remained neutral until 1762 in the Seven Years' War between Britain and France. Treaty of Madrid (5 October 1750) The Treaty of Madrid was a commercial treaty signed between Britain and Spain on 5 October 1750. It followed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which had brought a close to the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, and resolved lingering Spanish concerns about the Asiento contract. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 had given Britain a thirty-year asiento, or contract-right, to supply an unlimited number of slaves to the Spanish colonies,