>> WWII was not caused by tariffs <<
“Caused” might be too strong a word. But tariffs certainly exacerbated the Great Depression, thereby contributing to unemployment and political unrest in Germany as well as many other countries.
So I think it’s unquestionable that tariffs had a causal relationship with Hitler’s rise, even though they were simply one among several other identifiable factors — like the runaway inflation of the Weimar years, the after-effects of the Versailles Treaty, and German nationalists’ longstanding anti-Slavic and anti-Jewish sentiments.
I agree completely. My answer was far too cryptic, and your point is exactly the same as I should have made. This is what started this post.