Watching Washington, April 2018: Steep tariffs harm rails, wallets

Watching Washington, April 2018: Steep tariffs harm rails, wallets

Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner Debates rage over the wisdom of steeper tariffs on U.S. imports and/or withdrawing from global trade pacts in hopes of protecting domestic industry and jobs. History teaches such actions pose economic and national security risks.

Consider the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff imposing steep imposts on some 20,000 imported goods. Consensus among economists and historians is that a resulting global trade war deepened and lengthened our Great Depression (retaliatory tariffs reduced American exports by 61%) and contributed to the rise of Nazi Germany by intensifying nationalist animosities.

Here are how the benefits of global trade […]

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