Thomas Sowell says Trump’s tariffs risk replaying ‘devastating history’

The legendary economist Thomas Sewle listened to President Donald Trump’s tariff in an interview issued on Wednesday, saying that the comprehensive definitions are at risk of a trade war and the repetition of the “devastating history” of commercial policies that worsened great depression.

On Wednesday, the Hoover Foundation issued an excerpt of an interview on Tuesday with the colleague of Sewel, Rose and Milton Friedman in the Hoover policy, from the “Uncommon with Peter Robinson” series. In the interview, the well -known conservative economist said that it is “painful to see” the administration follows the footsteps of “a devastating decision from behind in the twenties.”

Sewel pointed to the SMOOT-HWLY tariff, which was a wide-ranging tariff that was discussed and implemented in 1929 and 1930, respectively, in an attempt to protect American industries from external competition in the early stages of the great depression. Foreign countries have declined, causing a decrease in global trade, which economists are now widely believed to deepen depression.

He went on to say that if Trump’s tariff is intended as short -term and limited measures to achieve strategic goals, it may be effective, but if it is left in the long run, it can repeat “devastating history” for a global trade war and causes consumers and investors to be blocked amid uncertainty.

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“It is painful to see what is a devastating decision from behind in the twenties of the last century. Everyone thinks, because everyone follows, and all of this happens, you are giving up on big discounts. “

Sewel said that President Franklin de Roosevelt, who took office after he was in force in Smoot-Hwley, was a policy experience in an attempt to raise the economy from the depression. He pointed out that this approach can be effective in a system based on the expected rules, but he added that arbitrary measures and unity can create uncertainty that suppress the economic activity in the absence of a reliable framework.

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President Donald Trump shows a tariff for his administration on American trading partners during the “Liberation Day” announcement. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“It is annoying in other words. Franklin de Roosevelt said, when he was president in the 1930s, that you have to try things, and if you are not working, you admit it, you are giving up, and you go to something else, and you are trying to do so until you encounter something to work,” said Sewel.

“Now, this is not a bad approach if you are working in a system known for the rules. If you are the person who provides the rules, all other people will have any idea of ​​what you will do after that. This is a formula for people to be on their money until they discover what they will do, and when many people comment on their money, you can get results like You Great Depression in 1930.”

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Customs duties are taxes on imports that importers pay at a time when a tariff is entered, with prices usually moved to consumers. (Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“If this is just a set of short -term deception to achieve different limited goals, limited in time, perhaps, but if this is the policy for four years, you will try it, you will try it and try something else, then many people will be waiting for,” Sawil explained.

He added: “I think what happened in the stock market recently when things have decreased significantly for a long time, and I know that many people are adhering to their money before they did anything because they do not know where this will lead.”

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Sewel, 94, retired from writing his joint column in 2016 at the age of 86. Conservatives and Libertaris called for the presidential medal for freedom to work in the economy and public policy throughout his career.

The Hoover’s video clip indicated that the full interview with Thomas Sewle as part of the “unfamiliar with Peter Robinson” video will be released on April 15, 2025.