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.

“Vietnam will pay the United States a 20% Tariff on any and all goods sent into our Territory, and a 40% Tariff on any Transshipping,” Trump said on his social network. “In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade.”

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.