How did mercantilism increase the likelihood of conflicts between European powers?

Mercantilism was an economic system that was prevalent from the 16th through the 18th centuries, in which governments intervened heavily in their country’s economic activities to protect and promote their own national interests by applying tariffs, quotas, and other restrictions with a goal of maintaining a favorable balance of trade (greater exports than imports). Good examples of this system include England/Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands (Dutch Republic).

One element of this system was to drive the creation of colonies, which were forced to provide raw materials to the controlling colonial power. These colonial territories were often simultaneously forced to purchase finished manufactured goods from the colonizing nation, thus further exaggerating the balance of trade between the two.

European powers were the primary colonizers during this period, and their maintenance of power relied on the economic benefits of mercantilism. As a result, this often drew them into conflicts over particularly valuable colonial territories, for both the raw materials and purchasing markets they could provide. Furthermore, because these powers viewed the world’s wealth and resources as a zero-sum scenario, control of these resources drove trade wars, military buildup (especially powerful navies), and in many cases, outright war, such as the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Seven Years’ War.