During much of the previous era of globalization, from the 1860s until the First World War, U. S. tariffs were surprisingly high. Present-day economic historians have suggested that U. S. protection as the result of a backlash against globalization that was the beginning of its decline. They...

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...