Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

(noun)

An act sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels.

Related Terms

Examples of Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in the following topics:

  • Planter Power

    • The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, for example, had defied the Alien and Sedition Acts.
    • The Tariff marked the high point of US tariffs.
    • It was approached, but not exceeded, by the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.
    • The first protective tariff was passed by Congress in 1816; its tariff rates were increased in 1824.
    • Representatives in the New England states to vote for the tariff increase (House Vote on Tariff of 1828).

  • Competing Solutions

    • First, in 1930, he signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that raised U.S. tariffs.
    • Second, the Revenue Act of 1932, which was the largest peacetime tax increase in history, increased taxes across the board.
    • Finally, the 1932 Norris-La Guardia Anti-injunction Act supported the organized labor.
    • The National Labor Relations Act (1933), which established the National Labor Relations Board (1935).
    • The Social Security Act (1935) established financial support for dependent minors, the disabled, and the elderly.

  • Hoover's Efforts at Recovery

    • Despite the objections of many economists, Hoover signed the Tariff Act of 1930, commonly called the Smoot–Hawley Tariff, which raised the entry tax on more than 20,000 items imported from foreign countries to historically high levels.
    • A petition signed in May 1930 by 1,028 U.S. economists had asked Hoover to veto, rather than pass, the tariff act.
    • Lamont was quoted as saying he “almost went down on my knees to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the asinine Hawley-Smooth tariff.”
    • Hawley, left, and Sen.
    • Reed Smoot in April 1929, shortly before the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act passed the House of Representatives.