That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, with a big assist from Doug Irwin.  Here is one excerpt:

In 1971, President Richard Nixon imposed a 10% tax on foreign goods brought into the US, and kept it in place for four months. The best that can be said about this experience, well-documented by Dartmouth economist Douglas A. Irwin in a 2012 essay, is that the US economy survived it.

That is hardly good news, but it is a partial comfort. At the time, Republican officials were demanding an end to undervalued foreign currencies, better trade treatment of US exports and more spending on defense by US allies. (Sound familiar?) After this rhetoric and policy, however, came an era of trade liberalization. The costs of protection and the incentives for freer trade simply proved too strong, and subsequent presidents of both parties oversaw tariff reductions.

In 1971, Nixon’s key demand

Keep reading this article on Marginal Revolution.