The Chicago Council for Global Affairs

The contest to succeed António Guterres is underway. As candidates put forward their visions, the more pressing question is what kind of leader the moment demands.

As Trump and Xi meet in Beijing, majorities say they would favor a deal that lowers tariffs in exchange for larger agricultural goods purchases by China.

Trump and Xi meet this week with vastly different goals and theories about where the world is going.

As it enters its 250th year, the United States faces an international political system it can neither dominate nor disregard. American leaders will have to do something they have long resisted: learn how to actually play the game.

"It provides China with an opportunity to frame itself as a source of prosperity and stability—in contrast to the United States," says Council Distinguished Nonresident Fellow Evan Medeiros.

"The United States needs China to some extent more than China needs us," Council Marshall M. Bouton Senior Fellow for Asia Studies Raymond Kuo tells WGN's The Point.

"The sort of immediate and urgent crisis is Iran, and it's not the nuclear program, it's the strait," Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri tells Bloomberg. "He will be seeking to see whether China will do anything to help unlock that."