re: Trump said he's prepared to raise tariffs as trade war with China heats up

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Previous administration have removed tariffs from the negotiation table.

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Multilateral negotiation (augmented by multiple bilateral negotiations) on reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers has been a constant for decades, with the steady trend being a reduction in barriers all around. In recent months, we have bucked the trend and raised taxes on our consumers and producers who import, and our trade partners are doing the same. Meanwhile, multilateral barrier-lowering deals go on without us. Our behavior will very likely accelerate this.