Statistics show that currently in the United States the unemployment rate is high. Many people say that the situation is bad and the economy is slowly declining, but most people forget to think that these things are normal and are nothing worse than the depression of the 1930s. Although some say that the Depression was caused by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, it was strictly due to many reasons that had nothing to do with the law. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was signed by President Herbert Hoover on June 17, 1930. It had been proposed in 1929 and passed in June 1930 by Congress (Burg 63). Two men named Reed Smoot and Willis C. Hawley, who were Republicans, sponsored this law, but 46 states did not see the importance of it or how it could help depression. So they wrote letters to Hoover asking him to veto the law (Burg 64). The importance of the law was to add taxes on imported goods in order to increase the amount of products made in the United States and stimulate the economy (Stein). Although exports may have been slightly affected by retaliatory measures imposed by other countries, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 clearly did not affect the United States' standing during the Great Depression due to exports already low volumes, low volumes of imports and the increasing unemployment rate. The first reason the law did not affect conditions during the depression was the already low exports. Different countries had different economies. Some of them were not good and for some reasons countries stopped trading with the United States. These include some of the country's largest trading partners, such as Britain and Canada. Both of these counties had struggling economies; part of this is due to the United States... middle of paper ...... a certain event or thing that caused it (Stein). So the next time you are in depression or the economy is bad, don't try to single out a certain thing that caused it, but look at the bigger picture. Works CitedBurg, David F. The Great Depression. Ed. updated. New York: Facts on File, 2005. Print. pages 63-64 “The Depression of the 1930s.” BBC News. BBC and Web. November 1, 2013. “Did the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act Cause the Great Depression of the 1930s?” » Jobs BackJobsBackcom. Returning Jobs, 2013. Web. October 26, 2013. Irwin, Douglas. “What caused the 1937-38 recession?” » Vox. Vox, September 11, 2011. Web. November 1, 2013. Figures. “The Statistics of the Great Depression.” Shmoop. Shmoop, and Web. October 26, 2013. O'Brien, Anthony. “Smoot-Hawley Tariff”. EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. August 14, 2001. Web. October 25, 2013. “Recession.” Investopedia. Investopedia, and Web. November 1. 2013.