Hawley-Smoot Tariff

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930 raised US tariffs on over 20,000 dutiable items to record levels and protracted the Great Depression.

The act was championed by Senator Reed Smoot[?], a Republican from Utah, and Congressman Willis C. Hawley[?], a Republican from Oregon. President Herbert Hoover had asked Congress for a downward revision in rates, but Congress raised rates. While many economists urged a veto, Hoover thought he could finesse the law through the Tariff Commission, and signed the bill. Many economic historians consider this a major precipitating factor of the Great Depression which ensued.