Final answer:
The Navigation Acts led to the colonies engaging in smuggling of goods to get around trade restrictions and maintain profitability in trade. These restrictions also increased the price of non-English goods for the colonists and limited the market for colonial goods to England and its possessions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Navigation Acts were a series of laws passed by the English Parliament in the 17th century to enforce the policy of mercantilism in the colonies. One of the major effects of these acts was that the colonies engaged in smuggling of goods as a way to circumvent these restrictions and trade with non-British entities that might offer better prices or those goods which were not supposed to be traded according to the Navigation Acts.
Specifically, the Navigation Acts included provisions that restricted colonial trade, such as the enumerated goods which could only be shipped within the British Empire. This led to an increase in prices of non-English goods, as foreign shippers passed the cost of the English taxes on to the colonial consumers, and also limited the potential market for colonial goods to England or its colonial possessions.
Over time, these trade restrictions caused friction between the colonies and the mother country, contributing to the growing separatist sentiment that eventually led to the American Revolution.