The 1930s and 1940s era of the Great Depression and World War II provide
important reminders of globalization’s last dark episode of protectionism. The
U.S. imposition of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs and the international retaliatory
response in the 1930s led to the virtual halting of international commerce.
Table 1-1 illustrates the pattern of the new trade barriers that were implemented
by the United States and a number of other European countries during the
Great Depression. What is clear is that the level of tariffs during the Depression
was much higher than what most developed economies impose today.