On the economic front, Britain froze Argentine financial assets worth $1 billion in Britain and imposed its own trade embargo on 6 April. On 9 April Britain again managed to rally the support of the European Community's (EC) Council of Ministers which agreed to impose economic sanctions against Argentina which included a import ban and suspension of trade preferences.10 These economic pressures did not serve to put Argentina under much financial pressure, although as a major exporter with mounting foreign debts their position was certainly weakened, alienating them politically from the rest of the world with its associated demoralising psychological effects. This rallying of the EC's support behind Britain help to dissuade other Latin American countries from getting too involved in their support for Argentina. The economic sanctions of most importance were those associated with arms sales. The immediate freezing of German planned construction of two frigates and France's supply of Super Etendard jets and Exocet missiles to Argentina would assist Britain when military operations finally began.11.
Britain's grand strategy in the Falklands was shaped by the prevailing domestic situation and its international alliances. The government faced humiliation arising from the initial invasion and stiff pressure from the parliamentary opposition to act and recover national prestige. The media and the population, swayed by the tide of nationalistic fervor, obliged the conservative government, and British Cabinet in particular, to act decisively to remove the aggressors from "British soil", perhaps even to punish them for their affront to British pride and sovereignty. The Conservatives, facing an impending general election, and waning public support, needed a foreign policy victory and not a stalemate in the South Atlantic, if it was to remain in power. Britain actively pursued and obtained the diplomatic support for the legitimacy and moral high ground to pursue a direct strategy demanded by these domestic pressures.
