William L. Witham Jr. of Dover is a retired Kent County resident judge who served over 40 years in Delaware’s justice system. He is also a former leader in the Army Reserve and National Guard, with 34 years’ service.
Throughout history, the United States has used tariffs as a means to raise revenue and to protect domestic industries from foreign competition. Prior to the Civil War and the adoption of the 16th Amendment to allow the imposition of taxation of personal income, a tariff was the oldest and simplest way to raise income for our young republic. In 1789, except for shipbuilding, there had been little American industry to protect. In fact, one of the causes of the War of 1812 was the use of tariffs by the United States to prevent the importation of cloth goods by Britain, to protect the nascent clothing industry of New England.
The outbreak of war in 1861 caused government expenses to explode. Prior to the firing on Fort Sumter, the federal government had been spending about $170,000 a day. By the Battle of Bull Run, that shot up to $1 million per day. As a consequence, high tariffs were imposed to help cover the debt that was created. By 1899, American manufacturing was so strong that tariffs began to decline significantly. Average tariffs that were about 50% were under 20% in the 1920s, then the agricultural sector of the economy began to fail after successive droughts in the American Midwest. The federal government sought to protect agricultural products, as well as industry, as the impact of the recession became a depression when Wall Street crashed in 1929. The enactment of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act raised tariffs on 20,000 imported commodities. This was the highest in history until the massive 2025 tariffs imposed by the Trump administration (though not in effect yet, as negotiations continue).
Today, we have seen the impact of tariffs in the trade wars of 2018 and 2025. We see how deficits or surpluses are created by the use of tariffs between countries. Our largest deficit is with China. Remember, the United States' trade deficit is the difference between how many goods the U.S. imports and how many it exports. The expectation of the Trump administration is that most countries will want to cut deals with the United States because it has the largest consumer market in the world. We can see the effect of this battle with the current tariff war. The Trump administration is trying to readjust our large trade imbalance by raising tariffs on virtually all imported goods coming into the United States but, in particular from China, which had the largest trade surplus with the U.S. The reduction of deficits is important, as Americans are paying more each year for interest on the deficit. We are currently $36 trillion in debt and climbing. This is unsustainable.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
