Chuck Grassley says he tries to remind Trump that tariffs 'brought about Adolf Hitler'

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday blamed a 1930 tariff law for bringing about the Great Depression, the rise of Adolf Hitler and World War II.

"As I like to tell the president when he says he likes tariffs, I try to remind him that Smoot-Hawley brought about the Great Depression, brought about Adolf Hitler, brought about World War II, brought about 60 million people losing their lives as a result of it," Grassley said. He was speaking to the National Association of Farm Broadcasting about tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

Trump last week said he would hike tariffs to 25% on $200 billion in Chinese imports after trade negotiations stalled. Chinese officials said in return it would raise tariffs up to 25% on $60 billion in U.S. goods. Trump's administration also seeks to place tariffs on another $325 billion in Chinese goods.

Grassley said on Wednesday that the United States then reduced its tariffs and that poverty has dropped worldwide since the end of World War II.

"I like to tell the president that globalism has helped everybody. Freeing up trade has helped everybody," Grassley said.

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which President Herbert Hoover signed in 1930, raised tariffs on a variety of products. The U.S. Senate's website describes the law as "among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history" and said that the United States' trading partners retaliated with their own tariffs, worsening the Great Depression.

Grassley has been making similar comments about the Smoot-Hawley Act for years.

In 2019, Grassley said of Hoover, a fellow Iowa Republican: "He signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill, and the United States became protectionist, the world became protectionist. It shut down world trade and probably contributed more than any other decision to the Great Depression becoming worldwide. And the Great Depression is a part of the reason that Hitler rose to power and we lost 60 million people in World War II."

In 2016, Grassley also warned Trump's tariffs could be damaging, again citing the Smoot-Hawley act.

"You shot down international trade because we protect, other countries protect. Then you have a deep depression. And then you have Hitler come to power. And then you have 60 million people murdered as a result of World War II. We don’t want to go down that route again," Grassley told the New York Times that year.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Chuck Grassley says he tries to remind Trump that tariffs 'brought about Adolf Hitler'