The Trump administration's tariff war with China is most often seen through the lens of the economy. But to many economists, the bigger threat is that Trump's global trade gambit will erode the United States’ main source of global authority: the long-term geopolitical relationships it has cultivated over nearly a century.

The United States’ trade deficit in goods with China was $295 billion in 2024, less than one-third of Trump’s $1 trillion total.