“Trump does not see China as an enemy,” said Michael Pillsbury, a scholar of the Chinese military at the Hudson Institute who has informally advised the White House. “In fact, he has shown remarkable restraint when it comes to China.”

Michael Pillsbury, a China expert at the Hudson Institute, said that leaving more uncertainty in the agreement could foster more trade fights between the world’s two largest economies, particularly given a complex enforcement mechanism the two sides previously agreed to establish to ensure both countries lived up the agreement.