No it wasn't. We had high tariffs the first 180 years of this country and it served us well. We entered the Roaring 20's with tariffs of about 20%. The smoot-hawley tariff wasn't passed until 1.5 years after the depression.
At the time imports were equal to 5% of our GNP and exports were 4% of GNP. Exports simply weren't big enough to have a major impact on our economy. Industrial production dropped 50% during the Great Depression. Exports just weren't significant in that number.
Tariffs in United States History
Today imports are equal to 16% of our GNP. We are way too dependent on foreign countries for manufactured goods and even military parts.
Our tariffs are so low that they actually provide a tax incentive to off shore, as if the wage differentials were not enough. The price of those cheap imports don't reflect the taxes that domestic producers contribute, the cost of supporting unemployed Americans, or the opportunity cost of not having Americans working earning salaries, paying taxes and spending their earnings into our economy.
Thank you for that information. I did only a cursory look around the internet as my time is short this evening. It seems there are mixed opinions.
I’m still not comfortable in my mind about raising tariffs. As much as I don’t like it, in this time of global economics, I am not sure about the consequences of such an action. In earlier days, we had a nation that produced for ourselves and other nations. That no longer is the case. Would high tariffs cause business owners to relocate back to the US? Not unless the corporate tax is restructured, the unions are reigned in and fed control is loosened. Companies can still make a profit, even with a high tariff.