Word: tariffs
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...collapse, Franklin Roosevelt denounced Smoot-Hawley as ruinous. Hoover responded that Roosevelt would have Americans compete with "peasant and sweated labor" abroad. Then, as now, protectionism had a strong if superficial political appeal: by election eve, F.D.R. had backed down, assuring voters that he understood the need for tariffs. Protectionist politicking, however, could not save the Republicans in 1932. Smoot and Hawley joined Hoover in defeat. The Democrats dismantled the G.O.P.'s legislative handiwork with caution, using reciprocal trade agreements rather than across-the-board tariff reductions. The Smoot-Hawley approach was discredited. Sam Rayburn, House Democratic Speaker from...
Though some legislators today might be reluctant to make such a promise, no one in Congress is seriously proposing anything as drastic as Smoot-Hawley. Still, the pro-tariff mania that swept Washington 55 years ago remains a danger. "What we are afraid of," says S. Bruce Smart, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, "is that people are so emotional that they will do something that they know is foolish, just to do something...
...countries; bills that would require regular intervention in exchange markets. Many are based on a crude idea of reciprocity: buy more from us or we will buy less from you. Thus a bill drafted by Democrats, but boasting strong Republican support as well, would slap a 25% penalty tariff on anything imported from countries whose sales to the U.S. exceed by 65% or more their purchases from the U.S., unless they start reducing that trade imbalance immediately. In its present form, the bill would raise prices on everything Americans buy from Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Brazil. Two bills introduced...
...repeating dire warnings that U.S. protectionism could once again provoke foreign retaliation against what remains of American exports (which is plenty: the U.S. is still the world's biggest exporter by 27% over runner-up West Germany). Such retaliation is what happened after Congress passed the disastrous Smoot-Hawley tariff act in 1930 (see box). Just enough Senators and Representatives will change their minds on a revote to sustain the veto. Then will follow a confused struggle between legislators fearful of a trade war yet determined to force Reagan to do more to promote exports and curtail imports...
Support for other protectionist bills appeared to weaken too. Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois, a principal author (with Gephardt and Texas Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen) of the bill to impose a 25% tariff on goods from countries running especially large surpluses in trade with the U.S., has always acknowledged that the bill is likely to be rewritten in ways that he cannot foresee. Gephardt now is voicing hope that if the measure does pass in something like its present form, its targets will trim their trade surpluses enough to escape its provisions. But he admits, "I really...