>>>The phrase "trade war" is hyperbole.
>>>If I reduce my prices to put a competitor out of business - that's competition, not a trade war.
>>>China has been cleaning our clocks by not allowing US products into their markets.
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>Trump regularly offers all foreign nations perfect "free trade" meaning everybody drops all their tariffs and subsidies. So far only one small nation indicates willingness to take him up on it; the major trading partners seem to think fair trade means they get to keep all their own tariffs and subsidies while it's evil for the US to have any or to resent the resulting blue collar unemployment and massive trade deficits.

So-called pro-labor dems Carter, Clinton and Obama did nothing about it.
It stems in part from the post WWII obsession with the Red menace.
In order to discourage countries from siding with Russia, we bought their friendship by looking the other way when they put up those tariffs.