Original Title: TIL about the Smooth-Hawley tariff act of 1930 which increased US tariffs (by an average of 20%) on over 20,000 imported goods, while it seemed succesful at first by 1933 US exports had declined by 61% and its GNP by almost 50%
Original Title: TIL before the Great Depression (1930's), the US President at the time came up with a tariff strategy called the Hawley Tariff Act, despite warnings against it. It was imposed on many other nations, including Mexico and Canada, who then retaliated with their own tariffs, causing worldwide suffering.
Original Title: TIL The Smoot-Hawley Act raised tariffs to the second highest in U.S. History in 1930, prompting retaliatory tariffs by other countries. causing exports and imports to decline by 2/3. Economists and economic historians have agreed that the Act worsened the Great Depression.