What Donald Trump’s election means for the global economy

By Alice Fulwood, Wall Street editor, The Economist

ALMOST A CENTURY has elapsed since America’s Congress last passed a bill into law levying tariffs on imported goods. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which raised average tariffs on imports by around 20% and incited a tit-for-tat trade war, was devastatingly effective: global trade fell by two-thirds. It was so catastrophic for growth in America and around the world that legislators have not touched the issue since. “Smoot-Hawley” became synonymous with disastrous economic policymaking.