Ten Entry Timeline of United States Economic Trade Dependency History
UNITED STATES STEERING AWAY FROM DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN PRODUCTS:
Colonial Period:
1773: With The Boston Tea Party, colonists rioted against the unfair tax rate of tea from England by dumping pounds of tea into the Atlantic Ocean.
1776: The United States fight in the Revolutionary War to break economic and governmental ties with Britain to become an independent country.
Industrial Revolution
1780-1830’s- The Industrial Revolution revolutionized the production making process. By making raw materials into manufactured goods, more money could be secured in the world market. Since the United States was still a newly founded country at this time, Britain would take raw materials from the United States and would sell the manufactured goods back to the United States at prices the US could not afford.
1850’s- The Middle Class (bourgeois) grows in the United States after the Industrial Revolution- to compensate The United States begins to heavily rely on imports of products like China.
The Great Depression
June 7th, 1930- The Tariff Act of 1930 (Smoot-Hawley Tariff) raised tariffs on imported goods. This ultimately cut imports and exports by half and contributed to the Great Depression.
1930’s- The Great Depression causes less production in the United States and ultimately hits the world harshly economically. Trade falters between many countries, including Great Britain and Germany.
1970’s
1973-1974: October, OPEC placed an embargo against the US because of US support for Israel in the war. This caused shortages in fuel. Rations of gas were implemented based on license plate numbers and service stations were closed on Sundays. Summer of 1974, the United States reached an agreement with OPEC, rationing ended and the prices went sky high.
1979-1980: Due to the Iranian Revolution, fuel production was cut back, and The United States had to ration again, but this time within regions. Places in the west were hit first, and then it spread eastward. By the time shortages in fuel hit New York, California was back to normal. This caused prices to rise.
21st Century
1998- Trade deficit in the United States reaches an estimated 249 billion dollars. This is due to a greater amount of imports than exports in the United States.
Sept 2009- President Obama signed an order to impose a 25 percent tariff on Chinese-made tyre imports over the next three years. Economic commentators predict a wider trade war from this act.
2009- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included more than $80 billion in clean energy investments that will jump-start our economy and build the clean energy jobs of tomorrow
Other Links:
1. Energy in the United States
This is a simple explanation of energy in the United States. It depicts the consumption rate of petroleum and gas. It will be a great reference to use when wanting to compare imports of different time periods.
2. Trading Diplomacy with Thailand
This website discusses the trading diplomacy struggles the United States has faced when dealing with medicine trade in Thailand. I’m still debating whether or not I want to expand into this complex history of the trade industry.
This is a website that expands on the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a dominant period in time where types of trade between countries changed tremendously.
This website expands on Obama’s goals of making the United States a fuel independent and cleaner environmentally country.
5. The US Trade Representative’s View
This is the website of Ron Kirk, who is the U.S trade representative. This website explains the White House’s tactics when dealing with foreign policy and trade.
Conclusion
These links, along with my timeline, expand on important events in the United States history that deal with economic dependency with foreign countries. I decided to start with the Boston Tea Party because I feel that is the beginning of the United State’s history with becoming an economically independent nation. They started fighting against Britain who was unfairly taxing them for imported products. Then I transgressed to the United States becoming an independent nation as a whole, because America’s initial roots were so dependent on Britain it will be interesting to display how we slowly became more independent as a country. Then I jumped to the Industrial Revolution, because this was a monumental period in time where trade was reorganized and redefined. Instead of raw materials being traded, manufactured goods were traded instead. However, this had a negative effect on the United States. Since fuel is the most recent debate with trade, I focused on past events where fuel trade caused tension within the United States.
Annie's Blog 
Leave a comment