If you worship at the "free trade" alter, you must pledge to never actually enforce multi-lateral trade obligations.  If you even think about actually requiring others to lower barriers, you risk banishment for heresy.

Instead, you must endorse new trade agreements like Peru.  Agreements that lower U.S. tariffs but allow others to continue VAT tariffs of 17% or more.  Agreements that allow foreign governments to manipulate currency with no response from us.  Agreements that allow foreign government owned companies to buy U.S. private companies. Agreements that allow other countries to block our goods, while we let theirs in.

But in the rest of the world, other things make sense.  For example:

1.   Let's unilaterally adjust our tariffs or duties to neutralize foreign VAT tariffs;

2.   And adujst our duties to neutralize foreign currency manipulation;

3.   And create some companies owned by Uncle Sam's Department of Defense and buy some Chinese defense contractors in China, or maybe have Fannie Mae buy some banks in Shanghai;

4.   And block Chinese meat exports to us when they block ours.

Multilateralism is fine.  Let's do it some day.

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