[TBP]

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs led to the Great Depression. Let's not do that again.

[nickcarraway]

Too late. They’ve decided we can tax our way to prosperity.

[crosdaddy]

Weren’t the tariffs put in place after the GD had started?

[sargon]

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs led to the Great Depression. Let's not do that again.

Ah yes, that old tired canard. Total BS.

[nickcarraway]

Maybe Schumer can be Trump’s VP in 2020?

[rockinqsranch]

I suggest everyone crying Smoot-Hawley go read about the tariff’s origin in the 1920’s-30’s when it was actually made law, and then look at todays circumstances.

President Trump is working for the people of this country.

[ek_hornbeck]

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs led to the Great Depression.

In order for that to be true, Smoot-Hawley must have been the only law capable of time travel.

[ek_hornbeck]

If Chuck Schumer’s (qualified) support for tariffs automatically makes tariffs wrong, then what are we to make of Bill Clinton’s enthusiastic support for repealing tariffs and promoting “free trade agreements”? The ad hominem argument of “bad person/idiot supports X, therefore X must be wrong” is a poor one because you can always find some bad person or idiot somewhere to favor any position or view (albeit usually for the wrong reasons).

[NobleFree]

Chucky, like the President, understands that there are more votes to be had protecting the livelihoods of the American middle class than in sacrificing those livelihoods to corporate globalists on the altar of "free trade".

[nickcarraway]

Hawley Smoot Tariff Act from Ferris Beuller's Day Off

Isn't it great we are enacting George H.W. Bush-approved policies!

[heights]

Its a good thing to have No Capability to produce Iron and Steel in a time of War, a very good thing. signed the 000001% bloodsuckers that couldn’t give a rat’s ass about American workers.

[Will88]

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs led to the Great Depression. Let's not do that again.

So, why didn't other large tariff increases lead to great depressions?

From the Wiki article on Smoot-Hawley.

The average tariff rate on dutiable imports [26][27] increased from 40.1% in 1929 to 59.1% in 1932 (+19%). However, it was already consistently at high level between 1865 and 1913 (from 38% to 52%). Moreover, It has also risen sharply in 1861 (from 18.61% to 36.2%; +17.6), between 1863 and 1866 (from 32.62% to 48.33%; +15.7%), between 1920 and 1922 (from 16.4% to 38.1%; +21.7%), without producing global depressions

Smoot-Hawley

The Great Depression was caused by the Fed allowing the money supply to shrink by 30% in the three years after the stock market crash of 1929. Smoot-Hawley probably exacerbated the economic decline some, but did not "lead to it".

[Kazan]

It's a dumb point because Trump just more than offset the cost of the tariff by slashing corporate taxes and billions of dollars of regulations. What about that don't you understand?

The GOP doesn't just exist as a playpen anymore for business interests. Trump cares about country as a whole, including workers. That is a good thing because it will cement Republicans as a majority party.