In a world where two great powers have spent years trading economic blows, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet for three days not to forge a new order, but to prevent the existing fragile one from fracturing further. The summit, held amid elevated tariffs and deep mutual suspicion, is less a negotiation than a ritual of reassurance — a signal to markets, allies, and each other that the brink reached earlier this year will not be crossed again. History reminds us that the most consequential diplomatic moments are sometimes not the ones that announce change, but the ones that quietly forestall cata