basing his foreign policy upon the alliance, as supplemented by the naval entente with great britain negotiated by his predecessor, carlo felice nicolis di robilant, crispi assumed a resolute attitude towards france, breaking off the prolonged and unfruitful negotiations for a new franco-italian commercial treaty, and refusing the french invitation to organize an italian section at the paris exhibition of 1889. the triple alliance committed italy to a possible war with france, requiring a vast increase in the already heavy italian military expenditure, making the alliance unpopular in italy. as part of his anti-french foreign policy, crispi began a tariff war with france in 1888. the franco-italian trade war was an economic disaster for italy which over a ten year period was to cost two thousand million lire in lost exports, and was ended in 1898 with the italians agreeing to end their tariffs on french goods in exchange for the french ending their tariffs on italian goods.