„Van esély a nyitásra a császár részéről” Egy Habsburg–amerikai kereskedelmi egyezmény lehetősége az 1780-as években amerikai szemmel
“There is a Possibility of an Overture by the Emperor”. Negotiations for the Conclusion of a Commercial Treaty between the United States of America

Summary/Abstract: The Confederation Congress appointed and empowered John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson to negotiate and conclude commercial treaties with sixteen European powers, including the “court of Vienna” in 1784. The ruler of the Habsburg Empire at the time, Joseph II (1780-1790) was open to the initiative of the American diplomats. It is very interesting that both parties showed readiness for the negotiations and had an interest in the conclusion of a treaty, yet it never materialized. There were fundamentally two reasons behind this failure. First, the American diplomats in Europe were only authorized for two years to conclude commercial treaties and their commission expired in May 1786. By the time the Austrian ambassador in Paris had received full authorization to conclude a treaty for the territory of the whole empire, the American commissioners’ term was about to expire, and Congress was not willing to extend it. The movement to transform the structure of the confederation government had been well under way by that time, and under such circumstances Congress was not eager to engage in such negotiations until the construction of the new governmental structure would be finished. Second, Thomas Jefferson also wanted to postpone the negotiations the reason of which can be found in his economic thought. Fundamentally, he supported free trade policy, but in Europe he was forced to face the mercantilist economic policy of the great powers, and he had to realize that concessions has to be made. He came to the conclusion that certain powers were more important from the American perspective and he started to favor the conclusion of commercial treaties with powers having domains in the Western hemisphere. The Habsburg Empire was not such and it was clear that a treaty with her would not be very profitable from a strictly financial aspect. After realizing this, Jefferson started to pursue dilatory tactics in his negotiations with the Austrian ambassador.

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