British food imports and the risk of a second war across the Atlantic

British planning during the Venezuela crisis considered whether possessions in the western Atlantic could be defended against the United States. The Admiralty doubted that it could send enough ships to secure the western Atlantic and Caribbean while also facing uncertain or hostile relations with a European power. A memorandum quoted by Hendrix added that the United States could interrupt supplies from Canada and halt its own food exports to Britain. Its estimate put two-thirds of Britain's food supply at risk. Hendrix connects these naval and commercial vulnerabilities with the British conclusion that good relations with the United States had to be preserved.