The art of negotiation

The trade agreement covers many aspects, and even a simple draft document would still be a thick stack of documents.

The negotiators from various countries spent an entire morning just skimming through the contents—and that was only after Austria had briefed them on the general framework of the agreement; otherwise, they probably would have spent the whole day on it.

However, after carefully reviewing the terms, everyone looked surprised and began whispering among themselves. "It says that we can maintain a 60% Tariff on France Wine and a 38% Tariff on Austria iron products. These conditions seem... acceptable."

"I didn't expect that they could even impose an 80% Tariff on France Paper."

"Aside from the requirement that France Textile Tariff be aligned with those of the United Kingdom, the other conditions are not particularly stringent..."

"It could even be said that... it's quite reasonable. Austria imposes only a 10% Tariff on most goods exported from Württemberg."

"It's the same here; we can enter Austria and France with very low Tariff."

Lunchtime arrived quickly.

On the way to the Dining Hall, State Minister of Bavaria Pomenthal pulled aside several trade representatives from smaller countries and whispered among themselves, "Although on the surface the terms of the agreement proposed by Austria seem more favorable to them, our industrial competitiveness is far inferior to that of France and Austria, especially France."

"For example, the draft law requires us to impose a maximum Tariff of 12% on France machinery and 15% on Chemical products, which seems very disadvantageous to us."

Count Wintzingerode, the plenipotentiary of Württemberg, nodded and looked at him, saying, "So what do you think we should do?"

"This trade agreement is a good opportunity," Pomenthal said, looking around at the group. "It gives our goods access to the huge markets of France and Austria, but we must unite to negotiate even more favorable terms with them."

"Specifically, we must maintain consistency when discussing the exact Tariff amounts. Oh, and of course, Bavaria will also make concessions to your countries, so please rest assured."

The other representatives nodded in agreement. Indeed, as Pomenthal said, according to the draft, the Tariff levied on them by France and Austria were almost negligible, making it possible for their goods to enter France and Austria, something that was difficult to achieve before.

Therefore, the focus of subsequent negotiations will be on the upper limit of Tariff they can impose on France and Austria. After all, these small countries can only rely on Tariff to protect their markets when faced with highly competitive goods from large countries.

The trade negotiations resumed at 2:30 p. m.

Count Wintzingerode of Württemberg was the first to rise and said to the France Minister of Commerce, "Your Excellency Mr. Bayei, I believe that the 12% Tariff on your country's iron products exported to Württemberg is far too low. As you know, Württemberg has many Iron Smelting Workshop, and we need to provide them with some guarantees. Perhaps the Tariff on iron products could be increased to around 35%."

Representatives from Bavaria and other countries immediately followed suit, with Bavaria hoping to raise Tariff on France steel to 30%.

"Salzburg also hopes to increase it to 30%..."

Bayei then stood up and said some standard things, nothing more than that France also attaches great importance to protecting your industries, but the Tariff ratio has not been relaxed at all.

Seeing the situation deadlocked, Count Wintzingerode was about to threaten to withdraw from the negotiations when Bayei gestured to the young official behind him. "Mr. Bonaparte, please give Count Wintzingerode the data on the iron trade between France and Württemberg."

"Yes, sir."

Joseph Bonaparte immediately flipped to a few pages of documents, politely placed them on the table in front of the Württemberg representative, and thoughtfully explained, "Count Excellency, you see, in the past five years, France has exported an average of only Livre of iron products to Württemberg annually. The average price is 16 sous per piece."

"At the same time, the average price of iron products in Württemberg was only 14.8 sous. In other words, France iron products were almost uncompetitive in Württemberg."

Before technological innovation, the Iron Smelting technology of Europe countries was all at the same level. France, which did not have abundant iron resources, had no advantage over smaller countries.

Count Wintzingerode was taken aback. He had no idea what these detailed figures were, and he had no idea where the France had gotten them from.

In fact, from the moment Joseph was preparing to expand into the German States' markets, he had already sent people to investigate the industries and trade of each country, spending hundreds of Livre.

Therefore, this draft trade agreement is by no means unfounded; it ensures that the Tariff amounts are acceptable to all countries.

In later generations, extensive business research is conducted before trade negotiations. In the 18th century, however, people relied on experience and had no such awareness, which inevitably put them at a disadvantage in negotiations.

Joseph Bonaparte smiled and pointed to the next page, "You see, this is a survey of 200 residents of Württemberg, and only 7 people expressed a willingness to buy France iron products. So, you have absolutely no need to worry about Workshop local Iron Smelting being threatened."

Count Wintzingerode looked at the questionnaires with surprise; they had the respondents' signatures on them, so they shouldn't be fake.

He didn't know how to argue for a moment, so he could only sit down dejectedly.

Subsequently, the Bavarians raised questions about France's Tariff Chemical products.

Bayei followed suit, having officials in charge of Bavaria business research present Count Pomenthal with detailed data, providing substantial evidence that a 15% Tariff was sufficient to protect their Chemical industry.

Thus, the negotiations continued into the third day, with France using data and questionnaires to demonstrate that there would be no major changes to Tariff on France goods from other countries.

On the other hand, Austria, after being pressured by several smaller countries, agreed to a significant increase in Tariff.

On the fifth day of negotiations, Bayei finally presented the "freedom of inland waterway transport" clause with a smile...

Vienna.

Schönbrunn Palace.

Joseph II frowned at his brother and asked weakly, "Are you saying that the marriage alliance hasn't been confirmed in Paris?"

Leopold II nodded with a grim face. "Antoinette's letter made no mention of the engagement. Your Majesty, you know that Clementine even lived in Paris for a year; their actions are a disgrace to the Habsburg Family!"

After a long silence, Joseph II sighed and said, "It must have been because Clementine was too young and unable to bear children that my sister made this decision."

His situation was not without precedent. Louis XV had even been engaged to Spanish Princess, but because she was too young to bear children, she was eventually sent back to Spain.