The Tariff Act of 1930, more commonly known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, was a protectionist U.S. law signed by President Herbert Hoover on June 17, 1930, that raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods. Sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley, the act was intended to shield American industries and farmers from foreign competition during the early Great Depression, but Hoover signed it despite the objections of many leading economists. The tariffs backfired disastrously, as U.S. trading partners retaliated with their own tariffs, causing American exports and global trade to plummet and deepening the economic crisis. Growing out of a 1920s context of rising productivity and agricultural surplus, the legislation faced a lengthy congressional battle—the House passed its version in May 1929, while the Senate debated until March 1930, with members trading votes to protect regional industries. Historians and economists now widely regard the act as a major policy misstep and a cautionary example of protectionism. Its negative consequences helped pave the way for more liberal trade policies, such as the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, which shifted the United States toward reducing tariffs.