Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

(noun)

An act sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels.

Related Terms

Examples of Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in the following topics:

  • Planter Power

    • The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, for example, had defied the Alien and Sedition Acts.
    • The Tariff marked the high point of US tariffs.
    • It was approached, but not exceeded, by the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.
    • The first protective tariff was passed by Congress in 1816; its tariff rates were increased in 1824.
    • Representatives in the New England states to vote for the tariff increase (House Vote on Tariff of 1828).

  • From Protectionism to Liberalized Trade

    • U.S. protectionism peaked in 1930 with the enactment of the Smoot-Hawley Act, which sharply increased U.S. tariffs.
    • The act, which quickly led to foreign retaliation, contributed significantly to the economic crisis that gripped the United States and much of the world during the 1930s.
    • The U.S. approach to trade policy since 1934 has been a direct outgrowth of the unhappy experiences surrounding the Smoot-Hawley Act.
    • In 1934, Congress enacted the Trade Agreements Act of 1934, which provided the basic legislative mandate to cut U.S. tariffs.
    • The United States supported trade liberalization and was instrumental in the creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), an international code of tariff and trade rules that was signed by 23 countries in 1947.

  • Competing Solutions

    • First, in 1930, he signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that raised U.S. tariffs.
    • Second, the Revenue Act of 1932, which was the largest peacetime tax increase in history, increased taxes across the board.
    • Finally, the 1932 Norris-La Guardia Anti-injunction Act supported the organized labor.
    • The National Labor Relations Act (1933), which established the National Labor Relations Board (1935).
    • The Social Security Act (1935) established financial support for dependent minors, the disabled, and the elderly.

  • Hoover's Efforts at Recovery

    • Despite the objections of many economists, Hoover signed the Tariff Act of 1930, commonly called the Smoot–Hawley Tariff, which raised the entry tax on more than 20,000 items imported from foreign countries to historically high levels.
    • A petition signed in May 1930 by 1,028 U.S. economists had asked Hoover to veto, rather than pass, the tariff act.
    • Lamont was quoted as saying he “almost went down on my knees to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the asinine Hawley-Smooth tariff.”
    • Hawley, left, and Sen.
    • Reed Smoot in April 1929, shortly before the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act passed the House of Representatives.