LONDON — The risk of an escalating trade war between China and the US is rising fast.

US President Donald Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, has proposed a blanket 45% tariff on all Chinese-made goods.

And Goldman Sachs analysts Andrew Tilton and Alec Phillips say they see "little reason to believe" that Trump will back down on imposing restrictions on Chinese imports such as steel and machinery.

"We believe the Trump administration is likely to make an announcement on China's currency policy and impose unilateral tariffs on a number of products," the analysts said in a note to clients. "In general, we expect this administration to be much more active in using existing 'trade enforcement' tools than recent administrations."

Goldman Sachs even produced a graphic of some of Trump's past quotes on trade and dealmaking to show how unpredictable he could be.

Here is what some of them looked like:

The analysts pointed to the changing political "atmosphere" on trade, which would ease opposition to anti-China protectionist measures. Republican voters are becoming more sceptical about free trade, paving the way for tariffs.

Here is the chart:

Despite this, the Trump administration is unlikely to go straight to blanket tariffs. "Our expectation is that near-term activity is likely to be limited to targeted actions, with blanket tariffs held out as an additional tool that might be used later," the analysts said.

A plan for a 45% tariff wouldn't go down well among Chinese policymakers. In an interview with Goldman Sachs, Chinese trade expert Tu Xinquan said such a plan would start a full-blown trade war almost instantly.

"Of course, if a 45% tariff were imposed, it would trigger a trade war," he said. "China would definitely retaliate and would likely go above and beyond the US measures, potentially imposing tariffs as high as 80, 90% on imports from the US.

"That said, an across-the-board tariff of any size on US imports from China would be significant — certainly much more so than antidumping or countervailing duties on only specific products — and would require that China respond. China would not tolerate even 1% more in tariffs than what is imposed on other countries."

Tensions are already building between China and the US on trade, and tariffs are rising.

Earlier this year China increased antidumping tariffs on US imports of grains used in animal feed to as much as 53.7% from 33.8%. The country also hiked antisubsidy penalties to as much as 12%, from 10%, according to a Reuters report.

It is bad news for stability, and higher prices for some goods may not be the worst outcome.

Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma made headlines last month for visiting Trump and announcing that his company, Alibaba, would help create 1 million jobs for the US.

In January in Australia, however, he said in no uncertain terms that a retreat from globalisation would result only in trouble.

"If trade stops, war starts," Ma said while in Melbourne to launch Alibaba's Australia and New Zealand headquarters.