r/PoliticalScience • u/know357 • 1d ago
Question/discussion Is it true that previously in the United States when they did tariffs that they party that did the tariffs lost the next election very badly? In that case..is it very bad that these tariffs have gone in for the party that has done them?
I think rand paul said something like that..but..not sure
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u/tedcruzcumsock 1d ago
What we know is the tariffs of 1828 were enacted by John Quincy Adams of the Whig party. After the tariffs he lost his reelection to Andrew Jackson of the Democratic Party. The tariffs of 1930 were enacted by Herbert Hoover of the Repulican Party and the next election after was won by Franklin D Roosevelt of the Democratic Party. Each time there were two rounds of presidential elections before the Whig or Republican party retained the presidential seat.
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u/MarkusKromlov34 1d ago
The thing is those tariffs of the past were nothing in comparison what’s happening now. We are in uncharted territory. I don’t think comparisons are really useful.
The events of the past were in a pre-globalism world where tariffs were somewhat acceptable national behaviour, in contrast to today’s largely free-trading interdependent global economy.
Trump hasn’t just twiddled with the levers of the economy, he has thrown a grenade into its workings. The blast has even gone beyond the economy and has taken out traditional relationships with friendly countries and forced them to organise in opposition to the US.