Trade Policy in American Economic History

2018 ◽  
pp. 304-324
Author(s):  
Doug Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Competition ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us

This chapter reviews the evolution of US foreign trade and trade policy from the colonial period to the present. International trade has been a small but important part of the US economy throughout the country’s history. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to levy import duties. The use of this power has been extremely controversial ever since, with the political debate revolving over whether tariffs on imports should be high or low. This debate has pitted export-oriented producers against domestic producers facing foreign competition. After the Smoot Hawley tariff of 1930, which coincided with the Great Depression, protectionism was given a bad name and the United States began to turn to reciprocal trade agreements with other countries. The led to the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 and later agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993.

scholarly journals Quebec’s Economic and Commercial Linkages with the United States, 1994–2017

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl H. Fry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the ebb and flow of the Quebec government’s economic and commercial relations with the United States in the period 1994–2017. The topic demonstrates the impact of three major forces on Quebec’s economic and commercial ties with the US: (1) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which became operational in 1994 and was fully implemented over a 15-year period; (2) the onerous security policies put in place by the US government in the decade following the horrific events of 11 September 2001; and (3) changing economic circumstances in the United States ranging from robust growth to the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The article also indicates that the Quebec government continues to sponsor a wide range of activities in the United States, often more elaborate and extensive than comparable activities pursued by many nation-states with representation in the US. 1 1 Stéphane Paquin, ‘Quebec-U.S. Relations: The Big Picture’, American Review of Canadian Studies 46, no. 2 (2016): 149–61.

The rate of profit and economic stagnation in the United States economy

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-174
Author(s):  
Fred Moseley
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Debt Burden ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
United States Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Post War ◽  
Rate Of Profit

AbstractIn the first thirty years after World War II, the US economy performed very well. The rate of growth averaged 4—5%, the rate of unemployment was seldom above 5%, inflation was almost non-existent (1—2%), and the living standards of workers improved steadily. These were the ‘good old days'. However, this long period of expansion and prosperity ended in the 1970s. Since then, both the rate of unemployment and the rate of inflation have been much higher than before, and the average real wages of workers (i.e. the purchasing power of wages) have declined some 20%. Productivity growth has also slowed down and the debt burden of both capitalist enterprises and the Federal government has increased dramatically. It is in this sense that we may refer to the ‘economic crisis’ of the US economy over the last two decades. This crisis has certainly not been as severe as the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the economic performance has been significantly worse than in the early post-war period.

Trade Policy in American Economic History

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Economic History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
Us Trade Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
Main Instrument ◽  
The Impact

This article reviews the broad changes in US trade policy over the course of the nation's history. Import tariffs have been the main instrument of trade policy and have had three main purposes: to raise revenue for the government, to restrict imports and protect domestic producers from foreign competition, and to reach reciprocity agreements that reduce trade barriers. Each of these three objectives—revenue, restriction, and reciprocity—was predominant in one of three consecutive periods in history. The political economy of these tariffs has been driven by the location of trade-related economic interests in different regions and the political power of those regions in Congress. The review also addresses the impact of trade policies on the US economy, such as the welfare costs of tariffs, the role of protectionism in fostering US industrialization, and the relationship between the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act and the Great Depression of the 1930s.

US proposals threaten NAFTA’s regional auto sector

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Lower Cost ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rules Of Origin ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
Auto Parts

Subject The North American auto sector. Significance The third round of talks over the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ended in Ottawa on September 26, following relatively unproductive and tense rounds in Washington and Mexico City. A point of particular contention is Washington’s proposal to tighten rules of origin (RoO) for the automotive sector and potentially to introduce national content requirements for cars to enter the US market duty-free. Impacts Disrupting NAFTA automotive value chains would ultimately benefit lower-cost auto parts producers in China and South-east Asia. Greater auto sector trade between China and Mexico would encourage closer bilateral ties. Carmakers will respond to any need to increase value-added in the United States by ramping up automation, minimising gains for US workers.

Outlook for a future EU-US trade agreement is poor

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Member States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Eu

Subject EU-US trade. Significance US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ trade policy threatens the highly interconnected transatlantic economy. This presents a serious challenge to the EU and certain member states more than others, and resolving this tension is unlikely in the near future. Impacts Some US protectionist trade tendencies are likely to continue post-Trump. Trump's accusations that the euro is unfairly undervalued raises the (faint) prospect of an even more profound transatlantic dispute. The importance of the US economy to European firms enables Washington to enforce secondary sanctions.

NAFTA's Threat to Central American and Caribbean Basin Exports: A Revealed Comparative Advantage Approach

1994 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gladstone A. Hutchinson ◽  
Ute Schumacher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
Potential Benefits

The recent passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United States (US) marks an important step in the movement towards greater regionalism of trade among the countries in the Americas. From the perspective of the United States, the potential benefits to be gained from the anticipated increase in trade, economies of scale in production, increased access to the resources of production, and lower prices for the US market (due to the increased competition for consumer goods) combine to make its involvement in NAFTA desirable despite whatever limitations are posed, in the short and medium term, by Mexican underdevelopment (SerraPuche, 1992;US-ITC, 1991a).

US-Mexico Free Trade: Implications for the United States

1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Weintraub
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Changing Attitudes

The Moment of Truth has come for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The US Congress will have to stop talking and vote to accept or reject the agreement negotiated among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The disagreement on NAFTA in the United States is about free trade with Mexico, not with Canada. A US-Canada free trade agreement (FTA) already exists.This controversy over NAFTA has been fierce in the United States, much more so than in Mexico. This comparison speaks volumes about changing attitudes. It was almost unthinkable a decade ago that Mexico would so drastically alter its traditional position of maintaining economic and political distance from the United States. This change would not have been possible but for la decena trágica, the years of the 1980s. Beyond that, Mexico has more at stake in a free trade agreement. It has the smaller economy (about 1/27th that of the United States) so that changes, for better or worse, are magnified.

Immigration in American Economic History

2018 ◽  
pp. 100-118
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Ferrie
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Initial Settlement ◽  
The Impact

Immigration has been a powerful force is the US economy right from the period of initial settlement in the early seventeenth century. It has been instrumental in building the nation’s infrastructure, transforming its manufacturing sector, and growing its labor force, as it transferred human capital from where it was initially generated (abroad) to where it was productively employed (the United States). This chapter surveys the impact on the economy, on the immigrants themselves, and on the Americans they joined in four eras: (1) settlement (1600s–1700s); (2) the first “Great Wave” (1800–1890); (3) the second “Great Wave” (1890–1920s); and (4) the post-1965 period.

Services in American Economic History

2018 ◽  
pp. 234-260
Author(s):  
Stephen N. Broadberry ◽  
Louis P. Cain ◽  
Thomas Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Initial Section ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

This chapter chronicles the transformation of the US economy to one where over 80 percent of the labor force is employed in the service sector. The initial section discusses the difficult task of defining services—the service industries as opposed to the service sector. The growth of services began earlier and increased faster in the United States than in other countries. The discussion of this growth is divided into sections on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The roles of education, the entry of women into the labor force, self-employment, and foreign trade are discussed. The final section concentrates on services’ role in the comparative productivity performance of the US, UK, and German economies.

What Do We Really Know about Protection before the Great Depression: Evidence from Italy

2015 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 993-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Federico ◽  
Michelangelo Vasta
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Causal Relation ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Welfare Losses ◽  
The Impact

The impact of protection on economic growth has enjoyed a revival in recent times, with the publication of a number of comparative quantitative papers. They all share a common weakness: they measure protection as the ratio of custom revenues to import value, which biases results if demand for imports is not perfectly inelastic. In this article, we show that the measure of protection matters. We estimate the James Anderson and Peter Neary (2005) Trade Restrictiveness Index for Italy from unification to the Great Depression. We suggest a different interpretation of some key moments of Italian trade policy and we show that the aggregate welfare losses were small in the long run and mostly related to protection on sugar in the 1880s and 1890s. We document that using different measures of protection affects results of the causal relation between trade policy on economic growth in Italy and in the United States. Accordingly, we argue that a systematic re-estimating of protection in the economic history of trade policy is needed.

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