There are two lenses through which to view the announcement last week by the United States that it is imposing tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports. The first is that it is another shot in an escalating trade war between the world's largest and second-largest economies. The second is that it marks the beginning of a geopolitical competition between the two countries that is much more than a purely economic contest. The former interpretation is likely to prevail in most analysis, although the latter is a more accurate assessment of what is actually transpiring.

U.S. President Donald Trump has an affinity for trade sanctions. They are simple remedies for complex problems, he can take credit for their application, they are (relatively) easy to apply — subject to routine procedures and executive discretion — and (he believes) that the U.S. is relatively impervious to retaliation. After all, the president has tweeted that "trade wars are good and easy to win."

In January, the U.S. president put tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines, and then in June slapped sanctions on steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. Those two moves did not target any particular country but sought to aid American manufactures in industries in which they alleged to be disadvantaged by unfair trade practices.