protectionism — Bunk History

The Mind Behind Early American Protectionism

Before free trade became a consensus, Friedrich List argued that U.S. industry should be put first.

by Tim Cavanaugh via The American Conservative on April 24, 2019

Trump speaks to auto workers.

Donald Trump Wants to Take Republicans Back to Their Roots

The GOP was once the party of protectionism, while the Democrats led the way on free trade.

by Jennifer Delton via Made By History on March 12, 2018

America’s Tumultuous History With Tariffs

From William McKinley to Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump has plenty of precedent if he's looking for it.

by Robert W. Merry via The American Conservative on March 6, 2018

House destroyed by hurricane in Puerto Rico.

Decisions More Than a Century Ago Explain Why The U.S. Has Failed Puerto Rico in Its Time of Need

Fears about trade prompted the decision to make Puerto Rico a colony.

by Marc-William Palen via Made By History on October 3, 2017

The Jones Act, the Obscure 1920 Shipping Regulation Strangling Puerto Rico

Protectionism and exploitation at its worst.

by Matthew Yglesias via Vox on September 27, 2017

Donald Trump and Theresa May

Protectionism 100 Years ago Helped Ignite a World War. Could it Happen Again?

Abandoning free trade doesn't just hurt the economy. It threatens peace and stability across the globe.

by Marc-William Palen via Made By History on June 30, 2017

Donald Trump at a podium

The New Trumpian Bargain

Trump's second term echoes 19th-century policies: tariffs and immigration limits protect workers, while deregulation risks widening inequality.

by Sohrab Ahmari via New Statesman on November 12, 2024

Trump holding a table of tariff rates.

Tariffs Don’t Have to Make Economic Sense to Appeal to Trump Voters

Economists and Democrats dismiss Trump’s tariffs talk at their peril.

by Bruce J. Schulman via Made By History on October 24, 2024

Shipping container labeled "China Shipping," overlaid on political cartoon showing a tariff slowing supply of medicine to a drip.

Trump Loves The 1890s But He’s Clueless About Them

The tariffs he keeps babbling about didn’t make that decade great. They helped usher in a depression.

by Eric Rauchway via The Bulwark on October 23, 2024

Volunteers at Big Creek Missions in Leslie County, Kentucky

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

I’ve been going back to eastern Kentucky for over a decade. Since 2016, something there has changed.

by Bradley Devlin via The American Conservative on April 22, 2024

Law and Political Economy Project

Recovering the Left-Wing Free Trade Tradition

Free trade has been defended primarily by neoliberals who cared little about social justice or democracy. An examination of its history paints a different picture.

by Marc-William Palen via LPE Project on March 21, 2024

Collage depicting shipping containers, a scale weighing American dollars, and a screen of numbers and percentages

Free Trade's Origin Myth

American elites accepted the economic theory of "comparative advantage" mainly because it justified their geopolitical agenda.

by Oren Cass via Law & Liberty on January 2, 2024

Black-and-white illustration of men using several of Thomas Edison's inventions

A Dose of Rational Optimism

"Slouching Towards Utopia" is a rise-and-fall epic—but it is better at depicting the rise than explaining the fall.

by Zachary D. Carter via Dissent on October 7, 2022

Cover to Eric Helleiner's "The Neomercantilists: A Global Intellectual History," a Japanese=style screen print depicting men discussing business by a train, with boats in the background.

Developmental Realism

Now is a critical time to acquire a better understanding of this misunderstood and oversimplified philosophy known as Neomercantilism.

by Justin H. Vassallo via Phenomenal World on June 16, 2022

A line of cars waiting their turn at a filling station in Portland, Oregon, 1973.

The Price of Oil

The history of control and decontrol in the oil market.

by Gregory Brew via Phenomenal World on May 25, 2022

Cleveland-Stevenson Tariff Reform Portrait Handkerchief

Tax Regimes

Historian Robin Einhorn reflects on Americans’ complicated relationship to taxes, from the colonial period through the Civil War to the tax revolts of the 1980s.

by Robin Einhorn, Noam Maggor via Phenomenal World on March 24, 2022

Whose Century?

One has to wonder whether the advocates of a new Cold War have taken the measure of the challenge posed by 21st-century China.

by Adam Tooze via London Review of Books on July 22, 2020

Ross Perot, Populist Harbinger

Views that were fringe in Perot’s day had, by the 2016 election, taken center stage.

by Jacqueline Brandon via Dissent on July 10, 2019

Pat Buchanan surrounded by balloons at a campaign rally.

The Year the Clock Broke

How the world we live in already happened in 1992.

by John Ganz via The Baffler on November 5, 2018

Zones of Doubt

What we can learn about trade policy from a misbegotten 19th century effort to quantify the chemical properties of wool.

by David Singerman on October 2, 2018

Trump’s Nineteenth-Century Grand Strategy

The themes of his UN General Assembly speech have deep roots in U.S. history.

by Charles A. Kupchan via Foreign Affairs on September 28, 2018

Trump glares at Trudeau at the G7 meeting.

Trump Has Ignored the Worst Chapter of U.S.-Canada Relations

The War of 1812 holds lessons about the costly error of tariffs — not the threat of Canadians.

by Lawrence B. A. Hatter via Made By History on June 14, 2018

There’s Something Fishy About U.S.-Canada Trade Wars

In the 19th century, a tariff dispute actually came to blows, with 30 million frozen herring caught in the middle.

by David Singerman via The Atlantic on June 14, 2018

Donald Trump holding up a bill he signed.

Ceding Power to the Executive is Backfiring on Free-Trade Advocates

Liberal Democrats sidestepped Congress to bring free trade to the U.S. Now, Trump is able to do the same thing to destroy it.

by Jennifer Delton via Made By History on June 7, 2018

The Truth About Trade Wars: Everyone Loses, and the Damage Is Hard To Undo

President Trump is repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression.

by Sebastian Edwards via Made By History on June 6, 2018

Can History Avoid Conspiracy?

Historians still lack a good way to define, discuss, and address historical actions that appear to be "conspiracies."

by Andy Seal via U.S. Intellectual History Blog on June 4, 2018

Taft and Trump

Much more than time separates the 27th president from the 45th.

by Jeffrey Rosen via The Atlantic on March 19, 2018

'Trade Wars Are Good'?

Three past conflicts tell a very different story.

by Marc-William Palen via The Conversation on March 5, 2018

Congress Handed to the President the Power to Level Tariffs

A republic needs a legislature that can handle such tasks. We don’t have one.

by Jay Cost via National Review on March 5, 2018

James Madison Would Like a Few Words on Trade Wars

The fourth president tried all kinds of sanctions to open markets, but still ended up in the War of 1812.

by Noah Feldman via Bloomberg on March 5, 2018

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