Lessons

Intro | United States Tariff History | Setting the Stage | The Harding Years | Election of 1928 | Hearings & Proceedings | Aftermath | Lessons | References | Bibliography

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In their paper discussing the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, Christopher Harris, Michael O'Donnell and Sarah Loudon formulate several lessons learned from the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act:

• Protectionist economic interests are less significant, protectionist political ideology is less legitimate, and pro-liberalization interests are far more significant now than it was in the Hawley-Smoot era. Taught the U.S. lessons on the advocacy of protectionism and use of high tariffs. This lesson has been put into effect as the U.S. has gradually moved towards a more liberal trade ideology since the 1930’s. For many decades after the bill, the U.S. pushed liberal trade policies in effort to avoid similar “trade war” situations, mainly through the use of multilateral trade negotiations (42).

• Served as a catalyst for more liberal trade policies within the U.S. Many argue that the result of the bill provoked the creation of the GATT and eventually the WTO; two organizations created to mediate trade policy between nations (43).

As shown, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff has had a profound and lasting effect, and the consequences and resulting action can still be seen today.