- President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping reciprocal tariffs on what he deemed “Liberation Day” earlier this week. The tariffs and threat of a global trade war sent Wall Street spiraling, and some are saying it’s Smoot-Hawley all over again. But one economist says while Trump didn’t learn from the legislation blamed for worsening the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve has.
Jeremy Siegel, emeritus professor of finance at UPenn’s Wharton School, called President Donald Trump’s tariffs the “biggest policy mistake in 95 years.” What happened 95 years ago? The Smoot-Hawley Act, a protectionist trade measure that some economists blame for worsening the Great Depression.
