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Tariff Policy blog
Congress Should Write the Laws, and Other Radical Ideas From Article IArticle I gives Congress all the lawmaking power. The nondelegation argument says it cannot hand that job away. Here is the case, the cases and the objection.Who really pays a tariff, following the dollar from dock to shelfThe importer writes the check, but the burden spreads. Follow a hypothetical $100 part through three cases, then weigh the case for tariffs against the cost.Republicans were the tariff party first, from Lincoln to McKinleyThe Republican Party was born protectionist, and free trade is the newer chapter. A dated history from Hamilton to NAFTA and what it means for today's argument.Smoot-Hawley, 1930, what the tariff did and what it did not doA fair account of the 1930 tariff law, the retaliation it triggered, the other causes of the Depression, and what a careful speaker may claim.Free trade, tariffs or managed trade, three theories side by sideConservatives hold three different trade philosophies and call them one. Here they are in a single table, with the best case and the weak spot of each.Ronald Reagan was no free-trade purist, and his record proves itReagan gave free-trade speeches and also imposed quotas and tariffs, and the record shows a pragmatist who used leverage to open markets.Why the Protective Tariff Was Republican Gospel From Morrill to McKinleyFor fifty years Republicans tied the tariff to wages, factories and revenue. Here is the case they made, the critique at its strongest, and the record.William McKinley was the tariff king until his last speech changed his mindThe man behind the 1890 tariff ended his career arguing for reciprocity treaties, and his story shows how Republican trade thinking argues with itself.Seven myths about Herbert Hoover the do-nothing presidentHoover tried more to fight a depression than any earlier president. Seven common claims tested against the record, and what conservatives should learn.