Kusaimamekirai’s Reviews > Peddling Protectionism: Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression > Status Update

“Although there were partisan disagreements about the specific rules to be included in trade agreements, both parties endorsed the idea that the executive branch should be able to conclude trade agreements with other countries. As a result, the Tariff Act of 1930 proved to be the last time Congress ever determined the specific rates of duty that applied to U.S. imports.”

“One country might be able to get away with reducing its imports and still selling its exports, providing some boost to the economy. But if every country tried to insulate itself from the effects of the depression via increased trade barriers, the end result would be a decline in every country’s imports and exports.”

“Dye and Sicotte (2003) estimate that one-third to one-half of the decline in Cuba’s export earnings after 1930 was caused by the passage of the Smoot-Hawley tariff. According to their calculations, the U.S. sugar tariff erased 10 percent of Cuba’s national income between 1929 and 1933, amounting to more than a third of the overall decline in Cuba’s GDP over that period.”

Hello 1933, Fidel Castro says hi.

“In enacting the Smoot-Hawley tariff, members of Congress considered only its immediate impact on their producer constituents. The well-being of the overall economy or the potential retribution by foreign countries rarely entered the discussion”

“Hoover had warned the Senate not to take this step, emphasizing the importance of giving the executive branch the authority to adjust rates under the flexible tariff provision. However, progressive Republicans and Democrats were disillusioned about the provision’s ability to “take the tariff out of politics” and argued that it was unconstitutional to give the president the power to adjust tariff rates.”

“One agricultural producer recommended imposing a high tariff on bananas, not because the United States could start producing them but because “the enormous imports of cheap bananas into the United States tend to curtail the domestic consumption of fresh fruits produced in the United States,” such as apples”
It’s never been about free markets or choice for some of these people.