In 1651, parliament passed and imposed the "Navigation Acts" on colonies in the New World. These laws were passed to increase taxes on products shipped into the colonies and materials exported. But it also further restricted trade with foreign countries. Britain used Mercantilism to gain wealth from its colonies and heavily taxed them. But these are key points on how it would further affect trade.
The Navigation Acts were passed in the 17th and 18th centuries to force colonial trade to favor England and prevent colonial trade with the Netherlands, France, and other European countries.
The first of the Navigation Acts was passed in 1651 as a response to the Dutch trade wars and consequent devastation of British trade.
The first Act reinforced a longstanding government principle that English trade should be carried in English vessels; later acts further restricted the trade practices of the colonies in order to increase England’s profit.
The Acts required all of a colony’s imports to be either bought from England or resold by English merchants in England, regardless of what price could be obtained elsewhere.
The Navigation Acts, while enriching Britain, caused resentment in the colonies and were a major contributing factor to the American Revolution, fueled by the later Molasses and Sugar Acts.
