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1932 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Tariff levels
A "competitive" tariff set through a scientific Tariff Commission, with anti-log-rolling rules and a public counsel
pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Corruption & ReformTrade & Tariffs similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Rates equalizing differences in cost of production — not prohibitory rates; restore the Tariff Commission as a fact-finding body reporting to Congress rather than the President; enact the vetoed 1932 bill making Commission-recommended rate bills unamendable as to other items; appoint a public counsel to be heard on every rate application.
Rationale
Log-rolling produces indefensible rates; the 1922 "flexible" provisions turned a scientific commission into a political one; a public counsel gives "the average citizen ... some representation."
Statements (3)
The platform declares in favor of a competitive tariff which means one which will put the American producers on a market equality with their foreign competitors, one that equalizes the difference in the cost of production, not a prohibitory tariff back of which domestic producers may combine to practice extortion on the American public.
And next, my friends, the Democrats propose to accomplish the necessary reduction through the agency of the Tariff Commission.
contemplated the appointment of a public counsel who should be heard on all applications for changes in rates whether for increases sought by producers, sometimes greedy producers, or for decreases asked by importers, equally often actuated by purely selfish motives. And I hope some such change may speedily be enacted.
Follow-through
superseded
The 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act moved rate-making to executive negotiation, bypassing both congressional log-rolling and the Tariff Commission's fact-finding role; the public-counsel idea was not enacted. The flexible provision Hoover defended was left in place.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934-06-12 | statute | Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act charted on: Gross domestic product (nominal, annual) | For this reason, any smaller degree of authority in the hands of the Executive would be ineffective. The executive branches of virtually all other important trading countries already possess some such power. | partly | Message to Congress Requesting Authority Regarding Foreign Trade |
Assessments
Executive bargaining replaced commission-driven rate-making.
In 1934, FDR won passage of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which allowed him to grant "most favored nation" trade status to countries with which the United States worked out trade agreements.
Other positions on this issue
- Endorsement of the Smoot-Hawley tariff — Alfred E. Smith, 1932 directional_stance
- Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 directional_stance
- Preserve the bipartisan Tariff Commission's flexible power to adjust rates without congressional log-rolling — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Unconditional most-favored-nation treatment; no reciprocal bargains or preferences — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Maintain — and if necessary widen — the protective tariff; reject the Democratic 'competitive tariff for revenue' — Herbert Hoover, 1932 specific_pledge
- Protect the farmer against imports of livestock, dairy and farm products; keep non-competing goods on the free list — Alf Landon, 1936 directional_stance
1932-fdr-tariff-commission-anti-logrolling · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed