Fed action caused the GD, and Smoot-Hawley was a minor and greatly exaggerated element, along with many others that were enacted after the Fed's shrinking of the money supply had set things in motion.
And, a 30% reduction in the money supply affect every type of business activity, including the import/export business.
Bzactly.
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5) the Fed was not blameless after 1933 either. It increased bank-reserve requirements in three steps in 1936 and 1937, leading to another significant decrease in the money supply. The result was the 1937–38 recession within the Depression, adding insult to injury.
After shrinking the money supply by 30% over four years until 1933, Fed actions further reduced it. I bet a graph showing GDP plotted against the money supply from 1929 through about 1950 would explain more than all the other talk of the GD that takes place.