Treaty ratios, industrial capacity, and political will

The United States could not dictate Washington Treaty terms simply because it possessed greater long-run wealth. Britain still had the shipbuilding base to compete in the short term, while Japan's smaller economy and dependence on imported resources made a prolonged arms race especially dangerous. American superiority depended on Congress funding yards, infrastructure, and hulls. Theoretical capacity alone could not build a fleet. The Harding administration's fiscal caution and the country's postwar isolationism therefore mattered alongside industrial capacity when each navy calculated its bargaining position.