The first chairman of the U.S. Tariff Commission, Frank W. Taussig, expected the new body to put an end to “haphazard” and “irresponsible” management of trade policy. Reforming trade agreements was a top priority. In 1922, acting on the Commission’s weighty report, Reciprocity and...

In two pairs of episodes, first in 1824 and 1846 and then in 1892 and 1935, similar U.S.- Colombia trade agreements or their enabling laws were embraced first by protectionists and then by free traders. The history of the episodes supports the view that although political institutions exist to...