The proof is in the pudding. America, by using tariffs to protect itself from predatory English mercantilist practices became a manufacturing superpower. Tariffs were one of the pillars of the American System that allowed the rapid development and industrialization of the United States. The U.S. pursued a protectionist policy from the beginning of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. Between 1861 and 1933, they had one of the highest average tariff rates on manufactured imports in the world. However American agricultural and industrial goods were cheaper than rival products and the tariff had an impact primarily on wool products. After 1942 the U.S. began to promote worldwide free trade and now China, which is very protective of its industries, has an economy larger that the U.S.
The proof is in the pudding. America, by using tariffs to protect itself from predatory English mercantilist practices”
Today is not 1789, nor the 1800s nor the early 1900s. The situation in the world and in the U.S. is vastly different.
What really catipulted us to an industrial superpower was two world wars we indutrially geared up for and during which many of the other major powers (other than Japan in WWI) suffered massive losses, while, other than deaths of soldiers (and Pearl Harbor in WWII) the U.S. homeland was unscathed, LEAVING it, as a result, the reigning industrial power. Wars that hit other industrial powers greatly compared to the U.S. - not tarriffs.
As the result of those two wars faded, and other industrialized nations rebuilt their war torn economies, they began to catch up.