Commercial treaty Commercial treaty A commercial treaty is a formal agreement between states for the purpose of establishing mutual rights and regulating conditions of trade. It is a bilateral act whereby definite arrangements are entered into by each contracting party towards the other—not mere concessions. For example, the Methuen Treaty was a commercial treaty between Portugal and England. Another example, between the close of the Napoleonic wars of 1815 and the year 1860, the tariff system of Great Britain was changed from elaborate protection to practically complete free trade. An attempt had indeed been made in 1786 to modify the rigidly protective
Treaty of Alliance (1778) insurance policy for France which guaranteed the support of the United States if Britain were to break the current peace they had with the French, "either by direct hostilities, or by (hindering) her commerce and navigation," as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The treaty lays out the terms and conditions of this military alliance, establishes requirements for the signing of future peace treaties to end hostilities with the British, and provides a secret clause which leaves open the possibility of Spain and other European nations, "who may have received injuries from England," to