A History of Tariffs: From Smuggling to Trade Wars

This lecture traces the history of tariffs in the United States, from rampant smuggling during the colonial period, to Hamilton's establishment of a tax system, to the entanglement of tariffs with industrial development and North-South conflicts after the Civil War, and their role in the Great Depression. It concludes with the post-WWII establishment of GATT and the WTO, and the rise of global trade. The lecture highlights that while tariffs can protect domestic industries, they are essentially taxes that harm consumers, and reviews the successes and failures of tariff policies throughout history, culminating in the complexities of modern trade wars.