I don’t think it’s xenophobia. The US helped China into the WTO. The dispute is really about the status of China. The wto allows developing countries to impose import restrictions and various other protections. China—number one by gdp ppp, or #72 by gdp ppp per capita- says they are still a developing country and don’t have to give other countries equal access to their market. The US disagrees.
I know there are other complaints, but this is the core issue.. and I strongly suspect the us would look the other way on those issues if there was equal access, like they have in the past (to maintain access to the market).
The US isn’t a single consistent entity. US basically enabled modern day China by opening trade, but now that they are catching up it’s no longer advantageous to help them forward.
The US benefited from opening up to China. It returning to the dominant economy in the world was an inevitability with or without US support.
Being on good terms with them and dealing with inflation by using their labor force bought the US some time but US politicians just acted more irresponsibly (warmongering) instead of capitalizing on the temporary windfall.
I know there are other complaints, but this is the core issue.. and I strongly suspect the us would look the other way on those issues if there was equal access, like they have in the past (to maintain access to the market).