Protecting self-interests

Near the end of the Hoover Administration two Republican senators, Smoot and Hawley, proposed an act that would impose high tariffs on the world. It was passed by the Republican Congress and initiated the Great Depression.

Donald Trump, ignorant of the effect of the Smoot & Hawley Act, just imposed a similar action on Canada, Mexico, and Europe, which has already had an immediate effect - retaliation.

Economists, both liberal and conservative, have projected high costs of American products and millions of jobs to be lost. Apparently, Donald Trump, willing to protect himself from suspect blackmail by Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs, doesn't care what happens to the country, only himself.

Undoubtedly, as his congressional allies in Washington have summarily approved his cabinet appointees and executive orders, I see little opposition to the eventual destruction of this country's economy. Once more, it appears that the Republican Party has placed the importance and survival of its organization above the welfare and subsistence of this country.

James D. Cook

Schaumburg