The Study Of Tariff Policy Under The Administration Of Woodrow Wilson(1913-1921)

Tariff policy has always been an important part of American trade policy.Because of the protective function of tariffs,the discussion of tariff policy has become one of the most heated conflicts in Congress.After the Civil War,the United States maintained high tariffs for half a century,during which the Democratic Party failed several times to cut tariffs until Woodrow Wilson came to power in 1913,and was able to pass The Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act,which slashed tariffs.Wilson was able to successfully cut tariffs for two reasons.First,people at the time believed that high tariffs promoted the creation of trusts,and the fear of trusts made people strongly demand a lower tariff.The second is that Wilson blocked the forces opposed to tariff reform through a soft and hard offensive.The Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act was the first major bill passed by Wilson’s New Freedom Program,which focused on Wilson’s tariff concept of restoring competition and combating monopolies.In the Act,a large number of raw materials were included in the duty-free list,and the proportion of duty-free goods was significantly increased,which stimulated imports to a certain extent and combated monopoly power in the country.The most important part of the Act is its second part,the income tax provision.The income tax provision was initially created to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the tariff reduction and later developed into an important source of revenue for the federal government.The implementation of the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act eliminated protection for domestic industry,which generally benefited consumers.However,the abrupt exemption of a large number of goods from duty inevitably came at the expense of workers in large corporations and farmers.During Wilson’s second term,the income tax law was mainly improved and the Tariff Commission was established.After the end of World War I,the United States experienced a severe economic crisis,which affected the rise of domestic trade protectionist forces and eventually passed a new protective tariff law in 1921.By and large,the Wilson administration has increased the power of the president and the government,created additional government departments,and strengthened the science of government decision-making.Moreover,it was during Wilson’s tenure that the US began to use the tax system to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.Therefore,the tariff policy during Wilson’s political period had a profound impact on the United States.