Trade War Explodes Across World at Pace Not Seen in Decades

Proliferating tariffs engulfing U.S., China and their partners draw parallels to 1930s protectionist spiral

- Jason Douglas & Tom Fairless

Barriers to open trade are rising across the world at a pace unseen in decades, a cascade of protectionism that harks back to the isolationist fervor that swept the globe in the 1930s and worsened the Great Depression.

It isn't just President Trump's extensive new tariffs, which have set off a barrage of retaliatory measures across Europe, China and Canada targeting hundreds of U.S. goods.

Even before Trump retook the White House, many countries were increasing trade barriers, often against China, as they tried to beat back a flood of electric cars, steel and other manufactured goods pressuring their homegrown industries.

Now those efforts are proliferating as countries brace for a new wave of goods redirected across the globe by the U.S.'s rising tariff shield. The European Union said this month it plans to toughen measures to protect its steel and aluminum producers from imports diverted from the U.S. by Trump's 25% tariffs on those two metals.

Economists and historians say the flurry of recent moves suggest the world could be heading toward the largest, broadest surge in protectionist activity since the U.S. Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 touched off a global retreat behind tariff walls that lasted until after World War II.

Economists don't think the world is headed for anything like the Depression of the 1930s, or a rerun of that decade's collapse in global trade. Average tariff rates globally are still much lower than in the 1930s and 1940s.

But they do warn of lasting damage, both economically and diplomatically, as tariffs and other hurdles to trade increase. Among the risks: slower growth, higher inflation and a collapse in global cooperation that further fractures longstanding alliances.