This happened in 1780s. Not long after United States gained our independence from Britain.
At that time, USA was not really well first in International trades. Many people soon realized that the current trade agreements with Britain created a lot of disadvantages for United States. The country have to spent a lot of resources while receiving small profit in return.
As a result, USA started to look for new markets. Mostly from other European countries who are in direct competition from Britain in order to jack up the price of products from USA>
