Cash-and-carry and Britain's imperial finance network

Did repayment problems help American isolationists justify cash-and-carry?

Clarke accepts that missed repayment schedules were part of the justification and argues that cash-and-carry also suited Britain's imperial finance arrangements.

Clarke accepts the audience's connection between repayment problems and American support for cash-and-carry. He distinguishes missed schedules from his broader claim of eventual repayment, again invoking the disputed 2006 endpoint. Britain could meanwhile finance purchases through its sterling-area connections, including Singapore, Canada, and Australia. Keeping finance within the empire is presented as an advantage for Britain even when the American policy was justified through caution about credit.