The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 remains one of the most widely discussed trade laws in modern economic history. In academic study, its importance does not rest only on the tariff schedule itself, but on the larger chain of events that followed: political pressure, protectionist escalation, foreign retaliation, weaker trade flows, and the widening of economic stress during the Great Depression. In the United States today, Smoot-Hawley is not important because it is still a