The Tariff Times is a publication of the American Protective Tariff League: Devoted to the Protection of American Labor and Industries.
The League, 1885
The American Protective Tariff League was organized under the society laws of the state of New York in 1885. The object of the League, set out in the second article of its constitution, was simple. To protect American labor by a tariff on imports adequate to secure American industrial products against the competition of foreign industry and labor.
For four decades the League was the most influential protectionist organization in the United States. It published the American Economist every week, the Tariff Review, the Defender, and the Protective Tariff Cyclopedia. Its readers were Members of Congress, manufacturers, farmers, and working men and women. Its standing pledge was simple. Devotion to American industrial independence.
The League and its allies advanced the case for the McKinley Tariff of 1890, the Dingley Tariff of 1897, the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909, and the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922. The country those tariffs built became the greatest industrial republic in human history. The American Economist published its last regular issue in 1926, and the League’s classical period closed.
The Reestablishment, 2026
Free trade has had its century, and the country has paid the bill. American industries have been abandoned. American markets have been surrendered. American towns built on plants that closed twenty years ago have not yet recovered.
In 2026, on the 250th anniversary year of the Independence of the United States of America, the American Protective Tariff League has been reestablished to promote the defense of industry and labor, the legacy of the League, the American school of Protection, and the American System of Washington, Hamilton, Clay, and Lincoln.
The fundamental truth of American history is that the American System of Henry Clay was the policy that built this country into the greatest industrial republic in history, and it is that policy which will rebuild it.
The League’s purpose has not changed. Foreign labor still competes against American labor. American industries are still being abandoned and American markets surrendered. The remedy the League’s founders prescribed in 1885 is the remedy President Trump is putting back to work today.
What We Publish
Tariff Times Daily is a weekday morning briefing on the previous day’s developments in trade policy. It runs Monday through Friday.
It covers the Hill, the Exec Department broadly, the trade press, and industries themselves. Industrial wins receive mandatory coverage, such as mill restarts, plant openings, and reshoring announcements.
The Weekly Editorial is a longer Saturday piece in the tradition of the original American Economist.
The APTL History review is an ongoing project to spread awareness of the American school of Protection, the American system of Henry Clay, and the broader history of our nation and Protectionism.
The American Protectionist Archive Project is a long-running effort to digitize, republish, and recirculate the protectionist canon. The original works of the League, of Hamilton, Clay, Carey, List, and the broader American School.
Editorial Framework
The American System rests on four claims. The League’s founders held them in 1885. We hold them in 2026.
One. A nation’s wealth is what it produces. Consumption follows production.
Two. The wage of an American worker should be set in an American market, defended against foreign labor that does not enjoy our laws or our standard of living.
Three. The home market is the first market a manufacturer must serve, and a country that abandons its home market loses both the industry and the people who used to work in it.
Four. A protective tariff is the constitutional, lawful, and orthodox method by which the United States defends those interests, and has been since the second act of the First Congress in 1789.
These are the foundational claims of the American Protective Tariff League.
Who Runs It
The Tariff Times is written and edited by the “The Tariff Man”, President of the American Protective Tariff League.
The League and the publication are independent of any party, campaign, trade association, or employer. Opinions expressed within are that of League and do not reflect anyone else.
A Note to the Reader
The League has no interest in this work beyond a desire to give the widest possible currency to sound economic doctrine. Defenders and friends of protection are welcome here.
If something we publish helps you understand a fight, win a meeting, or arm an argument, forward it to one person who needs it. That is how the League grew in 1885, and that is how it will grow now.
Best Wishes, The Tariff Man
President, American Protective Tariff League
