Is this true?

Miscellaneous History
1

Not being very aware of Trade history , I found this rather strange:

What was the US’s position regarding free trade


when its own economy was developing?

At the turn of the 18th century, when the British economy was very strong, Adam Smith and David Ricardo propounded their theories of free trade between nations. These theories did not go down well in the US as Erik Reinert recalls in his book, ‘How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor’. He says the American maxim of the 1820s was: “Don’t do as the English tell you to do, do as the English did”, which, Reinert says, may be updated now to: “Don’t do as the Americans tell you to do, do as the Americans did!”

Paul Bairoch examines the historical record of trade and growth of the US and Europe in his book ‘Economics and World History — Myths and Paradoxes’. He points out that in the 19th century, the most highly protectionist European countries experienced the most rapid trade expansion and economic growth. In continental Europe, the rate of growth reached its peak at the time all countries strengthened their protection. He further says “The best 20 years of American growth took place in the 20 years (1890-1910) when its trade policy was protectionist and Europe’s liberal. During the entire 19th century and in fact until the end of the 1920s, the USA, the ‘mother country and bastion of protectionism’ experienced one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world.”

Is this really true? I have no idea so I thought I would ask here.

2

Even if the United States did enact protectionist measures against the rest of the world, it had one giant domestic market. This allowed for rapid economic growth despite, not because of its general protectionism.

As for the claim that protectionism led to great economic growth in Europe, I cannot confirm that. Austria-Hungary, the most notorious user of protectionism in mid-19th century Europe, was lagging far behind Germany regarding economic growth after the German tariff union had created a single market and agreed to free trade with France. I don’t see where the guy gets his numbers from.

By the way, when the era of free trade ended in Europe, it didn’t take long for national rivalries to heat up which created a fruitful breeding ground for war sentiments. When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will. World war I is a great example of this saying.

3

It’s both not true and a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Tariffs were lowered in many countries–including the US. The international gold standard (such as it was) was in place. Trade was relatively free. And prosperity came, certainly not because of the tariffs, but in spite of them.

4

What BAAWA says is correct and exactly why empircism doesn’t work in a field where you have entangled variables. Since we can’t do real experiments we have no way of knowing which variables contributed to success.