At the heart of Trump’s latest trade deal with Vietnam and talks with other trading partners is an effort to counter what he sees as China’s unfair practices to circumvent U.S. tariffs.

The so-called “deal,” which has the character of the unequal treaties imposed on colonies in the heyday of imperialist rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has implications that go far beyond Vietnam.

China’s share of US imports fell to 7.1% in May, the lowest since 2001, according to trade data published on Thursday by the US Census Bureau. That’s a 4.3 percentage point lower than the same period last year and part of a longer-term decline that began during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.