Clashing Over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy by Douglas A. Irwin (review)

In Clashing over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy, Douglas A. Irwin offers the first comprehensive study of American tariffs and trade policies in over a century. Irwin's text examines commercial restrictions from the Navigation Acts of the 1640s up to President Donald Trump's inaugural address of 2017. He focuses on the three principal goals of tariffs, which he dubs the three "R's." According to Irwin, revenue, restriction, and reciprocity have been the goals of American trade policy.

The book is divided into three parts. During the first part, which covers the colonial period through the Civil War, the national government used tariffs to fill its coffers. Irwin examines the Navigation Acts, the Tariff of 1789, Alexander Hamilton's economic vision, the Embargo Act, the Tariff of 1816, the Tariff of 1824, the tariff of Abominations, the Nullification Crisis, the Walker Tariff of 1846, the Tariff of 1857, and the Morrill Tariff of 1861 in this section. Irwin reminds readers that the tariff, in spite of what some might say, did not cause the Civil War. "The South did not secede because of the Morrill tariff; the Morrill tariff was enacted because the South seceded. In addition, the bill was signed by Democrat James Buchanan, not Republican Abraham Lincoln," Irwin writes (p. 209). From Reconstruction until the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, the second era that Irwin discusses, the government imposed tariffs to restrict foreign imports as a way to protect American manufacturers. Here Irwin analyzes the Gilded Age and Progressive era tariffs including the Mongrel Tariff of 1883, the McKinley Tariff of 1890, the Dingley Tariff of 1897, the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909, the Underwood Simmons Tariff of 1913, the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922, and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, which he refers to as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff since the bill first appeared in the House after Willis Hawley, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, drafted it and introduced it in that chamber. In the third and final era, which ranged from the New Deal to the present, Irwin maintains that American trade policy shifted towards achieving reciprocity with trade partners. Irwin covers the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Smithsonian Agreement, the Trade Act of 1974, and the Trade Agreements Act of 1979. Irwin recognizes a slight return to protectionism under Ronald Reagan. Irwin notes, "Reagan himself was often conflicted between his strong belief in free trade and limited government and his desire to help out American industries and their workers" (p. 573). Irwin concludes that Reagan increased tariffs marginally in order to prevent Congress from increasing them even higher. After Reagan, Irwin ends this section by discussing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as well as trade relations with China before postulating (correctly) that a new era might emerge under President Donald Trump.

Throughout this thoroughly researched text, Irwin informs readers that the enactment of tariffs never occurred in a vacuum. Outside events as well as political and economic factors typically influenced the implementation of tariffs. Budget surpluses prompted the lowering of tariffs at various times. The need for revenue or agitation from industries led to increases in tariffs. Divided government created stalemates in Washington that left tariff policies in place even though neither side supported the current rates.

Clashing over Commerce will be required reading for business and economic historians. It will serve as an excellent reference for any tariff debated throughout American history. One only has to go to the index to find information on any tariff enacted in American history. Simply put, Clashing over Commerce is now the standard work on tariffs in American history.