What can the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act teach us about what to expect from today’s tariffs?

SALT LAKE CITY — On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced broad, 10% minimum tariffs on imports from all countries and additional tariffs on goods from certain countries. 

The president believes tariffs will reignite manufacturing. He dubbed April 2, 2025, “Liberation Day” and said that it will mark the day the U.S. was “liberated” from reliance on foreign goods. 

But this isn’t the first time tariffs have been used. In 1930, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was passed by Congress and it put in place a number of broad tariffs. 

Peter Roady, an assistant history professor at the University of Utah, said the goal of the act was to try to protect American industry and farmers who were already going through the Great Depression. 

But the opposite happened. The U.S. was pushed further into the Great Depression.

“In fact, many economic historians think that it contributed to not only worsening the Great Depression, but actually creating conditions in places like Germany for World War II,” said Roady. 

But at the time the idea of tariffs was popular among American citizens. 

“But it was popular initially, especially with farmers, but then that proved to be counterproductive, because just like we’re seeing today, countries simply retaliate,” said Roady. “And that means that American producers, whether they’re farmers or manufacturers, have fewer customers overseas who want to buy American goods. At the same time, everything that Americans try to buy becomes more expensive.”

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Then vs now 

In 1930, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, put in place with good intentions, led to a lose-lose situation. But a lot has changed since then. 

First, Roady pointed out that at the time it was Congress that passed the Act and had control of tariffs at the time. After the fallout, Congress moved the power over tariffs to the president. 

Roady also said that the world is way more globalized now, which makes the economy a very different place than in the 1930s.

“But in some ways, that actually makes tariffs more dangerous today than they were back then. You know, the effects for consumers are likely to be felt much more quickly now than they were in the 1930s.” 

Roady said people are going to realize how many of the things we buy online and in the store come from overseas.

“The price of those goods is likely to go up very quickly. I think people feel (it) at the grocery store, people will feel it with their Amazon shopping carts. And I think people will be very unhappy about it.”

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