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This article reveals some aspects of the 1927-1935 trading crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. It shows, in particular, how the balance of power between the main decision-making poles, the colonial administration and the European trading companies, establishes the economic policy implemented for reabsorbing the effects of the economic depression. In compliance with the budgetary rigor required by continental France, the colonial State chose to act with limited economic intervention. However, the pressures and negotiations ended up influencing it to harmonize its actions with those of the major trading companies. François Dieudonné Reste, colonial governor, developed a proposal for re-boosting the economy which stands as evidence of the circumstantial nature of the agreement between these two protagonists in the economic exploitation of the colony of Côte d’Ivoire.