WSJ | Feb. 4, 2025
President Donald Trump often cites the 25th President, William McKinley, as an inspiration for tariffs. The ‘McKinley Tariffs’ were some of the largest hikes in U.S. history, but in his second term, McKinley changed his mind, and argued for more free international trade as a way of helping the U.S. economy.
WSJ explores how McKinley used tariffs, how Trump is following a similar playbook and why McKinley. Actually came to speak out against them.