Pleas for liberal trade policies are applauded by the leaders of almost all commercial nations. Nevertheless, free trade among nations may be facing its most serious challenge since the adoption of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930. This Act authorized tariff rate increases on more than 800 items and led to numerous retaliations by other nations. Professor Melvin B. Krauss at New York University stated, “In a scenario all too reminiscent of the beggar-thy neighbor policies of the 1930s, the United States is now threatening to exceed the recent protectionist measures of certain Western European countries under the dubious theory that caving in to protectionist pressures today is necessary to prevent an even greater cave-in tomorrow.”