Imagine this scenario: Xi offers Trump a free hand in the Western Hemisphere and a managed trade package which eliminates the American trade deficit in exchange for a free hand in Asia. Does Trump take the deal?
No other American leader would even consider it. The dividing of the world into spheres of influence would be viewed as a betrayal of American values by moralists; realists would say America was giving up the more valuable parts of the world and losing influence; and history tells us the deal–particularly the managed trade part–would be unenforceable in any event. But Trump is a mercantilist who loves making deals and believes American interests revolve around dominating our back yard, not Asia. He might go for it.