But with Trump’s decision last week to enact aluminum and steel tariffs against U.S. allies in Europe and North America, he is subverting previously agreed-­upon trade pacts. Veterans of trade policy worry that tensions will further escalate, putting existing trade agreements in peril and the future of World Trade Organization, the group that the United States helped establish in 1995 to adjudicate the rules of global trade, in doubt. Trump administration officials say the reaction from the rest of the world has been overblown. “When you’re almost 800 Billion Dollars a year down on Trade, you can’t lose a Trade War!” the president tweeted Saturday, referring to the U.S. trade deficit in goods. Some economists say that Trump is correct that trade has had some downsides that policymakers should address.

Source: Washington Post June 02, 2018 22:49 UTC