Anglo-American Economic Diplomacy During the Second World War and the Electrification of the Central Brazilian Railway

Throughout the Second World War British and American companies competed to gain the contract for the electrification of the central Brazilian railway. The British Foreign Office used this case to establish a broader principle with the U.S. government that the conditions brought about by war would not be used by one country to gain commercial advantage at the expense of the other. While the U.S. government supported this principle in theory, this article argues that they failed to adhere to it in practice. U.S. actions in this case shed new light on the country's economic diplomacy with Britain during the Second World War.