Illustration shows Uncle Sam in a tree, chased there by the Russian Bear which is standing at the base of the tree; Uncle Sam has dropped his rifle labeled “U.S. Duty on Russian Sugar.”

Caption:

As the tariff-war must end

Uncle Sam (to Russia) — Don’t shoot! I’ll come down!

Source: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.25550/

Puck, July 31, 1901

  • talOPEnglish
    6·
    6 days ago

    For context, I don’t actually think that the sugar tariff wound up getting dropped, in fact, at least not fully.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinley_Tariff

    The Act removed tariffs on sugar, molasses, tea, coffee, and hides but authorized the President to reinstate the tariffs if the items were exported from countries that treated U.S. exports in a “reciprocally unequal and unreasonable” fashion. The idea was “to secure reciprocal trade” by allowing the executive branch to use the threat of reimposing tariffs as a means to get other countries to lower their tariffs on U.S. exports.

    https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c13856/c13856.pdf

    Table 6.4. The fate of reciprocity treaties, 1840–1911

    1901, Russia, Senate rejects

    https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/candy-coated-cartel-time-kill-us-sugar-program#an-overview-of-u-s-sugar-policy

    An Overview of U.S. Sugar Policy

    Barriers to imports of sugar have been employed nearly since the republic’s founding; a tariff on the product was first passed in 1789. Duties remained in place almost continuously save for a four-year period from 1890 to 1894, but modern-day sugar protectionism can be traced back to the 1934 passage of the Jones-Costigan Amendment. This legislation, passed as an emergency measure to provide assistance to sugar farmers and later incorporated into the Sugar Act of 1937, had as its key provisions domestic production quotas, subsidies, tariffs, and import quotas, all designed to restrict sugar supplies and boost prices.