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Well, technically tariffs are not indiscriminate. They only penalize POPs who purchase items that are imported.
Not just pops, but also factories, and you never want those to pay more than they have to. With negative tariffs and high taxes you're at least making sure that your factories are making as much of a profit as they can. (Which might be why I've personally never had that many problems with Laissez-Faire, come to think of it).