Trump had hoped to go there in triumph after an easy victory over Iran. He actually went there in despair, hoping for China’s help in cleaning up the mess he made there. Last year, he had hoped to cow China into submission with his tariffs, only to push himself in a submissive position.

In Beijing, the very tone of his comments – what a great leader Xi is, how wonderful China, is, how well he gets on with everyone, and how the US and China are going to have a ‘fantastic future together’ shows that for all his grandiose plans to project US power, he has ended exactly where China wanted him, having to accept parity with China. How else did he manage to expose the reduction of US power in Beijing? Given that the meeting was initiated by the Chinese, how well did they realise what they wanted?

Who budged or blinked on all the major is ...