Editor, 

In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill, which raised American tariffs (taxes) on imports by the second-highest amount in U.S. history. This bill had disastrous consequences, when retaliatory tariffs strongly contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.    

The US depression was long and grueling and only subsided because of President Franklin Roosevelt’s government jobs program, followed by rapid WWII economic build-up.  

In Europe, the combination of retaliatory tariffs and WWI sanctions/reparations on Germany pushed the German people away from democracy, moving them to “Make Germany Great Again” under a dictator, Adolph Hitler, who named himself the savior of German recovery.  Instead, Germany collapsed by the end of 1945.   

Apparently, neither Trump nor his team have any historical perspective about why multiple large tariffs are not a sound tactic. No president since Hoover has been so incompetent as to put multiple large tariffs into practice.  

Trump’s destructive tariff actions against our largest trading partners (Canada, Mexico, and Europe) have spooked the U.S. stock market, leading to a dramatic down-turn. A recession is very much on the horizon.   

Trump recently told a news commentator that the United States could go into recession but it’s a price he’s willing to pay to do a “big thing.” The only big thing he is doing is creating enormous damage to the U.S. economy.  

We all need to do our homework and stay connected with what’s happening. As Trump’s tariffs take effect, the cost of living is already beginning to increase. We will soon have to pay a lot more for basic products like food, housing, and transportation.   

Please call your US Congressperson and Senators now and demand their intervention to stop the dangerous implementation of Trump’s reckless tariffs that will only create higher US prices and market instability. 

Ken Peterson

MAJ U.S. Army (Ret.)

Buchanan  

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