When President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China meet this week, the world will be watching to see if they can lock in a framework trade agreement and finally restore a sense of lasting stability and predictability to the world’s most consequential relationship.

Don’t count on it.

Whatever rhetoric or handshake deals come out of their planned encounter at a regional summit in South Korea, they are unlikely to signify more than a momentary truce between two leaders unchecked by domestic or institutional constraints and free to change course on a whim.

Welcome to the new strongman era.

If the world seems on edge these days, with alliances fraying, violent conflicts emerging and volatility as the order of the day, there’s a reason. These are the early shocks of a world being shape

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