In a speech last week in Washington, Vice President Mike Pence put Beijing on notice that “the United States of America has adopted a new approach to China.” It seemed like a first attempt at rationalizing the Trump administration’s disparate grievances with China into a coherent policy line.

“It’s not NAFTA redone. It’s a brand new deal,” President Donald Trump declared triumphantly at the White House last week, announcing the revised free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. But the new agreement is really just the Trans-Pacific Partnership with a few tweaks, and many fewer countries.