Wilson now faced an acute dilemma: the more he tried to preserve neutrality, the closer the nation came to war. Not only did Britain refuse, it also began blacklisting American companies trading with Germany. In return, Germany expected the United States to pressure Britain to end its naval blockade. In May 1916, Wilson secured a German promise, known as the Sussex pledge, to not attack merchant ships without warning. German sinking of passenger ships, most notably the Lusitania in May 1915, further strained the U.S. Wilson and the Department of State strongly protested British infractions of American neutrality but did not retaliate. banks to warring nations to be a violation of neutrality, such lending was legal, and, in 1915, loans and credits began flowing to Europe, with most of the money going to the Allied side. Although Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan declared loans from U.S. Britain's expansive definition of contraband-prohibited items-provided an excuse to interdict American merchant vessels and seize almost anything headed to Germany. While exports to the Central Powers totaled $169 million in 1914, the United States shipped goods worth $825 million to their opponents. ![]() trade practices already favored the Allied nations. Such trade was, of course, an internationally recognized right of a neutral nation, but U.S. With an economic recession underway, American manufacturers, munitions makers, and agricultural producers were eager to capitalize on the belligerents' need for their goods. However, neutrality quickly proved easier to declare than practice. Americans welcomed their President's statement of neutrality in August 1914, believing that the European conflict was none of their business.
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