Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act during the economic crisis that followed the 1929 stock-market crash.
The act became law on June 17, 1930, raising U.S. tariffs on thousands of imported goods. Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis Hawley sponsored the legislation, which was intended to protect American farmers and businesses from foreign competition.
Many economists and historians argue that the tariff provoked retaliation from trading partners and reduced international trade. It did not cause the Wall Street Crash itself, which occurred in 1929, but it became one controversial policy response during the worsening Great Depression.
Herbert Hoover was president from 1929 to 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt succeeded him in 1933 and introduced the New Deal. The tariff is therefore associated with the early Depression years and Hoover’s presidency, not Roosevelt’s later administration.