Facing intense pressure from Wall Street and newly spooked by the alarming drop in the bond market, President Donald Trump largely reversed course on his global trade war Wednesday. But for China — which happens to be the world’s most important trading nation and second most powerful country — Trump massively escalated his punishing tariffs.

In the space of a week, Trump threw away an opening for negotiations that could have calmed the dangerous tensions between the United States and China. Instead, the two countries have plunged into a bitter zero-sum struggle over power, growth and dignity. If the conflict persists, both sides will suffer serious economic pain. The global economy faces debilitating uncertainty: Will supply chains simply unravel or somehow adjust? And worse still, economic tensions could turn already ominous military disputes into something far more dire.

That the Trump administration ended up in a confrontation with China is hardly surprising. Not only did Trump enter a trade war with China in his first term, but the disparate factions jockeying for influence around Trump see conflict with China as desirable in its own right.

One pole of thinking is occupied by lapsed neoconservatives like Secretary of State Marco Rubio. For them, China’s aim is nothing less than to destroy the vitality of American society. The United States represents freedom and so poses an ideological threat to Chinese Communist tyranny.