Why Trump's Fawning over China's Xi Jinping Probably Won't Work

A couple of weeks ago, The Economist put a drawing of Xi Jinping, the President of China, on its cover under a headline that said “The world’s most powerful man.” In an editorial in the same issue, the editors acknowledged that China is still no match for the United States economically or militarily. They noted, however, that America’s President, Donald Trump, “is weaker at home and less effective abroad than any of his recent predecessors, not least because he scorns the values and alliances that underpin American influence.” Xi, by contrast, “walks with swagger abroad,” the editorial continued. “His grip on China is tighter than any leader’s since Mao.”