Donald Trump's Trade Policies During The 1930s

The 1930 era was marked by a severe outbreak of protectionism such as trade barriers and breakdown of the world trading system (D. Irwin, D College), 2009. These trade barriers included tariffs, import quotas and exchange controls by the government creating a significant restriction of spending on foreign goods which intensified the depression and made the economic recovery even more difficult. According to (B.Eichengreen & D. Irwin 2009), the restrictive of trade policies imposed by governments was destructive and counterproductive. When comparing these issues to today political development, it is evident that Trump’s policies and Brexit are a clear reminder of how likely we are to repeat the destructive mistakes of 1930. Trump’s policies such as the renegotiation of free trade agreement and restricted travel ban by
Trump’s protectionist Economic plan today bears some similarity to the 1930s protectionism.

The history of the 1930s was that the international monetary system was heavily based on the gold standard during the 1930s period. However, some countries started to abandon the gold standard while others remained. This is followed by restriction of trade such as tariffs and depreciation of currencies which overall resulted to a turbulent road ahead. In addition to this, (Eichengreen & Irwin, 2010) states that the ‘monetary stimulus in one country increased the pressure for another country to impose protectionist trade policies which eventually caused the great Depression’. Although some economic historians such as J.K Galbraith disagrees with this perception, however, one thing that is clear to everyone is that the great