The Trump administration's tariff war with China is most often seen through the lens of the economy. But to many economists, the bigger threat is that Trump's global trade gambit will erode the United States’ main source of global authority: the long-term geopolitical relationships it has cultivated over nearly a century.

Consumers, businesses, and even the prospects for U.S. manufacturing are all likely to become casualties in the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China, trade experts said.