To the editor: The trial of the collaborator Veronique de Rugy on the parallels between the idiocy tariffs of President Trump and the economic calamity that followed the Law of Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 was brilliant and appropriate (“Economic nostalgia is voters, but leads to terrible policies.” April 24). As always, we do not learn anything from history. Imposing tariffs is a game two can play and play.
She could have added that more than 1,000 economists He signed a petition Warning to President Hoover about the dangers of the law, imploring him. Henry Ford made a personal visit to the White House, Calling the bill “economic stupidity”. Executive Director of JP Morgan, Thomas Lamont, wrote That he “almost knelt to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the Asinine Hawley-Smoot rate.”
While Hoover himself called the bill “Vicious, exorbitant and unpleasant” He signed it anyway, saying that it was his duty for the Republican Party. Other countries did not take long to retaliate with their own tariffs, turning a recession into the great depression and victimizing people who were supposed to protect. Does it sound familiar?
Spencer Grant, Laguna Niguel
