The American election of 1932 brought to office a new administration willing to negotiate tariff reductions with other countries in return for reciprocal concessions. Bennett was quick to spot the change in mood, and soon Canadian negotiators were testing the water in Washington. This dealing with the United States was widely, and wrongly, supposed to be contrary to traditional straight-and-narrow Tory economic nationalism and pro-Empire sentiment. Bennett's eagerness to deal with the Americans took many Canadians, including his own cabinet, by surprise, and Arch Dale, one of the prime minister's most acute critics, once again caught the spirit of the occasion.
