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Article: The President's rotten record on trade: why George W. Bush is the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover.
- Article from:
- Reason
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
- Author:
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HERBERT HOOVER IS rightly reviled for having the worst record on international trade of any president. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which Hoover signed into law in 1930 after a Republican Congress passed it, was a significant factor in deepening the Great Depression. Since then, every president has embraced at least the rhetoric of free trade. But actions and rhetoric are different things, and George W. Bush in particular has preached free trade while advancing the agenda of a petty protectionist.
In so doing, he's returning his party to its roots. From Lincoln through Hoover, a high tariff on imported manufactured goods was the foundation of Republican trade policy. ...