December 30, 2010 2:30PM 

# Can a Tariff Wall Restore America’s Industrial Glory? 

By [Daniel Griswold](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-griswold) 

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Did America become a great industrial power in the 19th century because of its high trade barriers? This is not just an academic question. Modern-day critics of trade, such as [Pat Buchanan](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10983) and [Ian Fletcher](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/america-was-founded-as-a_b_713521.html), argue that the same tariff wall that made American great more than a century ago can bring back those days of industrial glory.

I did my best to debunk this flawed historical argument in Chapter 7 of *[Mad about Trade](http://www.amazon.com/dp/193530819X/?tag=catoinstitute-20),* but I’m delighted to see my free-trade buddy Don Boudreaux of George Mason University weigh in with an article in the new issue of *The Freeman.*

Under the title, [“Tariffs and Freedom,”](http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/thoughts-on-freedom/tariffs-and-freedom/) Don neatly dispels a number of myths surrounding that period in American economic history.

##### Related Tags 

[Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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