HALIFAX—When the big boys meet, everyone watches to see who comes out on top.

And so it is with the summit in China between that country’s President Xi Jinping and United States President Donald Trump. The media is full of stories about which of these political titans will leave the meeting with bragging rights.  

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For Trump, burdened with a sluggish economy, an unpopular war, and polling numbers lower than the morale at the Pentagon, the goal is trade deals that will ease his problems back home. That’s why he took every billionaire business dude he could find along on the trip.  

For Xi, the calculus is different. Economics is obviously important, given China’s immense export trade. And the U.S. is a critically important market. But Xi will be judged not just on deals made or rejected. He will also be measured on which superpower leader has the right stuff: him or Trump. 

Opinions will no doubt vary widely on who gained and who lost at the summit. But there is little doubt that the global order is undergoing a sea-change. The U.S. is still the largest economy in the world. According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. gross domestic product stands at $32.4-trillion in 2026. That compares to $20.85-trillion for China for the same period. China remains the........

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