Any of the maximize or minimize arguments are going to be simplistic and reductionist. The optimal real world strategies are always going have to account for other factors like relationships, political stability, goal alignments, power/dynamics, etc, etc. These factors will be different for each nation you're dealing with and will greatly affect what the best import/export and tariff ratios should be. And these may also change over time. The importance of these factors (different for each nation) are so strong as to overwhelm any of the economist theories about maximize/minimize.