The effect of Smoot-Halley is way overrated in its effect. The unemployment rise a year later was cause by mostly other multitudes of bad policies. At the time of Smoot something like less than 7% of our economy was foreign trade. This cut it by about half. A 3% drop in our econmy didnt double unemployment. This is FDR propaganda.
What did we import back then? Cars? Oil? Lumber? Steel? Electronics? Crap from China? Food? Nope to any of them.
Smoot is a red herring
If there’s one thing I’ve learned its that any time someone starts screeching smoot hawley, they either don’t know what they’re talking about or they hope the listener doesn’t.
Obviously total protectionism is really bad but a tariff here and there does not equal protectionism. Reagan did it to great effect.
A 3% drop in our econmy didnt double unemployment. This is FDR propaganda.
What did we import back then? Cars? Oil? Lumber? Steel? Electronics? Crap from China? Food? Nope to any of them.
It’s not only about the imports, but the exports too. A 3% drop in GDP could easily double unemployment. 2008 GDP increased 1.1% with an increase in unemployment of about 70%. Anything that would drop the GDP by 3% would cause real pain.