Lessons learned - and forgotten - from the last Trade War in 1930

The US and the European Union have agreed to a trade-war ceasefire — at least for now —but President Donald Trump remains locked in a tariff battle with China, has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from most of the world, and threatens to pull out of a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico unless it’s modified to his liking. It all evokes comparisons with the last global conflagration over trade during the Great Depression. Back then, President Herbert Hoover signed the Tariff Act of 1930, commonly known as the Smoot-Hawley law, which raised already-high tariffs on hundreds of imports.