There was no reason the United States had to go down this route exactly. Somehow the symbiotic relationship with China became too irresistible, and I think that is in part because the US entered into the relationship with an existing trade imbalance with Japan. It was already inured to running such balances and getting away with it for a variety of reasons (reserve currency of the world, global superpower, etc.). Germany never got itself into the trap of running trade deficits and didn't need China to act as its banker to finance German purchases of cheap Chinese goods.
There was no reason the United States had to go down this route exactly. Somehow the symbiotic relationship with China became too irresistible, and I think that is in part because the US entered into the relationship with an existing trade imbalance with Japan. It was already inured to running such balances and getting away with it for a variety of reasons (reserve currency of the world, global superpower, etc.). Germany never got itself into the trap of running trade deficits and didn't need China to act as its banker to finance German purchases of cheap Chinese goods.