Why Economists Hate Tariffs

To many economists, U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs against China and other countries are reminiscent of another American trade war—one launched in 1930 that ended badly for everyone involved.

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act introduced duties on about 900 products against Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The United States was already in the throes of the Great Depression; the retaliation made it worse. It took America more than a decade to recover.

On the First Person podcast, we’re re-airing a version of our Aug. 3 interview with Dartmouth University economist Douglas Irwin, who wrote a book about Smoot-Hawley. Irwin talks about tariffs, trade wars, and that iconic scene in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Anyone? Anyone?