Question

"Ninth: except for important considerations, no importation should be allowed under any circumstances of commodities of which there is a sufficient supply of suitable quality at home; and in this matter neither sympathy nor compassion should be shown foreigners, be they friends, kinsfolk, allies, or enemies... And this holds good, even if the domestic commodities are of poorer quality, or even higher priced. For it would be better to pay for an article two dollars which remain in the country than only one which goes out, however strange this may seem to the ill-informed."

- Excerpt from "Nine Principal Rules of National Economy," by Philip Wilhelm von Hornick (c. 1684)

Based on the above passage, what impact would mercantilism have on the British colonies and why?