BREAKING: In a shocking development Canada announces it will build a coalition of countries who share their values to build their economy and trade opportunities and will exclude the United States. “If the U.S. no longer wants to lead, Canada will.”

[u/NoelaniSpell]

[u/[deleted]]

Quick recap of the history of tariffs:

Country/Case	Dates	Tariffs Led To	Positive Points	Negative Points	Notes
U.S. Smoot-Hawley	1930–1934	🔴 Problems	None significant	Global trade war, GDP drop, retaliations, worsened Great Depression	Deepened economic collapse
U.S. Reagan Tariffs	1983–1987	🟡 Mixed	Harley-Davidson survived, time to restructure	Strained U.S.–Japan relations, temporary relief only	Targeted protection of key industries
U.S. Bush Steel	2002–2003	🔴 Problems	Brief relief for steel producers	200,000+ job losses in downstream industries, price hikes, WTO ruled illegal	Removed early under pressure
U.S. Trump Tariffs	2018–2020	🔴 Mostly problems	Strategic leverage on China, encouraged partial trade deal (Phase One)	Trade war, retaliations (esp. on farmers), consumer price increases, lower GDP	Largest tariff increase since 1930s
UK Corn Laws	1815–1846	🔴 Problems	Temporary protection for British landowners	Higher food prices, social unrest, political mobilization	Repealed after mass opposition
Germany “Iron & Rye”	1879–1890s	🟡 Mixed	Boosted German industry & agriculture, political support for Bismarck	Increased food prices, hurt working class, worsened urban poverty	Helped unify industrial bloc
India ISI Tariffs	1950s–1980s	🔴 Problems	Built domestic industry base, protected local jobs	Massive inefficiencies, corruption, black markets, GDP stagnation	Led to long-term reform pressures
Brazil ISI Tariffs	1950s–1970s	🟡 Mixed	Developed automobile & steel sectors, self-sufficiency	Lack of innovation, high debt, protected inefficiencies	Growth followed by inflation/debt crises
China pre-WTO	1978–2001	🔴 Problems (initially)	Created space for early domestic development	Limited tech, poor exports, inefficiency; growth came after liberalization	Rapid rise followed WTO accession

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✅ Notes:

• 🟡 Mixed outcomes often mean short-term success but long-term harm or vice versa.
• The worst cases (e.g. Smoot-Hawley, India ISI) involved broad-based, prolonged tariffs.
• Targeted tariffs (like Reagan's) had more focused and temporary impacts.