I don’t understand why relations between America and China deteriorated so much. China took a step back, looked at global trade and economics and designed a hy

I don’t understand why relations between America and China deteriorated so much. China took a step back, looked at global trade and economics and designed a hybrid economic system to take advantage of it. China's hybrid system is internally socialist but externally capitalist. A system where the overall focus is on the common good of the country to the detriment of the rest of the world. Such as system eliminates a lot of inefficiency found in most capitalistic systems --- things like knowledge hording and in-fighting (aka "trade secrets", "copyright", "patents" and associated legal wrangling). As long as corruption is held in reasonable check, such a system offers a natural advantage. The capitalist system in the USA is focused on individual companies. They made the mistake of believing their own rhetoric --- they never considered something like what China has done to even be possible. They just assumed China leadership would be driven by the same forces and play the trade game in the same way they do. After several decades, the USA is just now starting to accept the fact that they have been proven wrong. And the response is the dumbest imaginable act of desperation --- a global trade war that attacks both allies and enemies.