{"id":17452,"date":"2026-07-26T04:44:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17452"},"modified":"2026-07-26T04:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:44:47","slug":"trump-revives-dormant-smoot-hawley-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17452","title":{"rendered":"Trump revives dormant Smoot-Hawley authority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/tbliA4cY-ka2MdPpeyW_jAG-1BM=\/0x257:4000x2507\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/21\/1784655723726.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Trump<\/a> is invoking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/21\/trump-tariffs-imports-canada\" target=\"_blank\">an unused provision<\/a> of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act to impose additional tariffs on Canada over alleged discrimination against U.S. exports.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/20\/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-illegal\" target=\"_blank\">Supreme Court limits<\/a> Trump&#8217;s ability to wield tariffs and a temporary tariff stopgap expires, the president is turning to a rarely used tariff authority. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>While the Smoot-Hawley Act is often blamed for <a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1921-1936\/protectionism\" target=\"_blank\">worsening<\/a> the Great Depression, this provision went unused \u2014 until now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>Trump on Monday announced an additional 50% tariff on select Canadian imports that would take effect in August under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cov.com\/-\/media\/files\/corporate\/publications\/2016\/12\/law360_the_presidents_long_forgotten_power_to_raise_tariffs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Section 338<\/a> of the Tariff Act of 1930, better known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act after its congressional sponsors.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The administration says the measure responds in part to Canada&#8217;s retaliation against earlier U.S. tariffs and will affect about $20 billion in Canadian goods.<\/li>\n<li>It is another setback for Canada after the administration declined to immediately renew the current protections and framework of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2018\/11\/30\/trump-trudeau-usmca-trade-deal-signing-g20\" target=\"_blank\">U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>&#8220;Trump&#8217;s use of Section 338 tariffs on Canadian imports were narrow, targeted, and in response to unfair Canadian trade practices,&#8221; White House spokesperson Kush Desai tells Axios in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Comparing the President&#8217;s recent executive action with the full gambit of tariffs enacted in 1930 during the Great Depression is a moronic exercise.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fun fact: <\/strong>Many Americans know the law from the economics classroom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yuOHbyuanbY&amp;t=1s\" target=\"_blank\">scene<\/a> in &#8220;Ferris Bueller&#8217;s Day Off,&#8221; where actor Ben Stein lectures on Smoot-Hawley&#8217;s role in the Great Depression.<\/p>\n<p><em>Here&#8217;s how the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act worked:<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Where did they come from?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>As the economy deteriorated <\/strong>in 1929, lawmakers moved to protect U.S. industries from foreign competition.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/artandhistory\/history\/minute\/Senate_Passes_Smoot_Hawley_Tariff.htm\" target=\"_blank\">passed<\/a> the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, named for Sen. Reed Smoot (R-Utah) and Rep. Willis Hawley (R-Ore.), to protect American farmers from lower-priced imports.<\/li>\n<li>Lawmakers later expanded it to cover a broad range of manufactured goods.<\/li>\n<li>President Hoover signed the bill into law on June 17, 1930.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What did it do?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Smoot-Hawley increased<\/strong> the average tariff rate by about 20% and signaled a major expansion of U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/24\/bessent-trump-economic-globalization\" target=\"_blank\">protectionism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Within two years, roughly two dozen countries had protested or retaliated with tariffs of their own, helping reduce global trade.<\/li>\n<li>One of the hardest-hit industries was U.S. auto manufacturing. Countries cut imports of American-made cars by roughly 46%, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nber.org\/system\/files\/working_papers\/w28616\/w28616.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The act became politically unpopular, and voters shifted control of Congress to Democrats in 1932. Voters booted Smoot and Hawley out of office.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What modern options have presidents used?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>President Franklin Delano Roosevelt<\/strong> signed the <a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1921-1936\/export-import-bank\" target=\"_blank\">Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act<\/a> in 1934 to reduce tariffs and expand international trade.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The law allowed presidents to negotiate reciprocal tariff reductions with other countries through authority delegated by Congress for three-year periods.<\/li>\n<li>Roosevelt negotiated trade agreements with 19 countries under the RTAA between 1934 and 1939.<\/li>\n<li>The RTAA later became the framework for post-World War II trade liberalization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What was the impact on the Great Depression?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Reality check:<\/strong> The tariffs had a &#8220;relatively minor&#8221; effect on overall U.S. GDP and the Great Depression because international trade accounted for less than 10% of the U.S. economy, according to the NBER report.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yes, but: <\/strong>The resulting slowdown in global trade deepened the U.S. economic downturn.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The bottom line: <\/strong>Smoot-Hawley did not cause the Great Depression, but its effect on global trade worsened an economic collapse already underway.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Go deeper:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/20\/trump-tariffs-canada-trade-war\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. to slap 50% tariffs on Canadian goods, deepening North America trade war<\/a><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump is invoking an unused provision of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act to impose additional tariffs on Canada over alleged discrimination against U.S. exports. Why it matters: As the Supreme Court limits Trump&#8217;s ability to wield tariffs and a temporary tariff stopgap expires, the president is turning to a rarely used tariff authority. While&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/tbliA4cY-ka2MdPpeyW_jAG-1BM=\/0x257:4000x2507\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/21\/1784655723726.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}