1,100 economists warn that Trump is repeating one of the biggest mistakes of the Great DepressionBob Bryan May 3, 2018
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tariffs-trade-war-great-depression-mistake-2018-5
Original caption: "Negroes talking on porch of small store near Jeanerette, Louisiana." Wikimedia Commons- More than 1,100 economists, including 14 Nobel laureates, urged President Donald Trump to reverse course on recent trade measures.
- The economists drew comparisons between the current tariff measures under Trump and the Smoot-Hawley Act in 1930.
- The Smoot-Hawley tariffs helped contribute to the economic hardships of the Great Depression.
Over 1,100 leading economists sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging the president to reverse course on recent trade tactics — lest the US repeat one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression.
The letter, organized by the conservative-leaning National Taxpayers Union, warned that recent tariffs and trade protectionism were harmful to the US economy. The economists cited a 1930 letter that warned Congress against passing the Smoot-Hawley Act, a large package of tariffs that many studies cite as
a major reason for the depth of the Great Depression.
"Congress did not take economists' advice in 1930, and Americans across the country paid the price," the letter says. "The undersigned economists and teachers of economics strongly urge you not to repeat that mistake. Much has changed since 1930 — for example, trade is now significantly more important to our economy — but the fundamental economic principles as explained at the time have not."
The Smoot-Hawley tariffs, much like Trump's measures, were designed as protection for US industries. But they
ended up making the situation worse.
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