Smoot-Hawley Act

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was a protectionist trade policy implemented in the United States in 1930, raising US tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods and prompting retaliatory tariffs from other countries. The law, signed by President Herbert Hoover, was sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley, and economists and economic historians have agreed that it worsened the effects of the Great Depression, which saw American exports and imports reduce by 67%. The act's passage was a response to concerns about job protection and farmer welfare, despite the US having a trade account surplus and rising manufactured exports at the time.learn more on wikipedia