Trump Hosts Lavish State Dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping
President and First Lady welcome Xi and Madame Peng to the White House for a black-tie event attended by business titans and political elites.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan for a lavish black-tie State Dinner in the East Room of the White House. The event brought together top business leaders and government elites in an effort to ease geopolitical tensions between the two superpowers.
Attendees from the business world included CEOs such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, and Tim Cook.
Melania Trump's office reportedly orchestrated the evening's decorations, which featured red linens, vermeil, and crimson dahlias, drawing on the color red's cultural significance in China. The dinner included musical performances by military musicians and tenor Christopher Macchio.
During the dinner, guests raised glasses of Schramsberg 'Blanc De Noir' for a toast, echoing the historic 1972 'Toast to Peace' between Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai. White House chefs prepared a multi-course menu that blended classic American ingredients with subtle Asian flavors. The menu featured a yellow squash velouté, sesame-crusted sea bass with bok choy, and a vanilla cremeux dessert made with White House honey.
This state dinner marks the first hosted for China since former President Barack Obama welcomed Xi in September 2015. The visit began with military honors, including a flyover, as the leaders and their delegations arrived at Joint Base Andrews.
Breaking with more than a decade of presidential protocol, the Trumps personally greeted the Chinese delegation on the tarmac, a move not seen since 2007. President Trump also announced that Beijing would send two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta, continuing the tradition of 'panda diplomacy.'
The three-day visit is scheduled to include cultural events and bilateral negotiations on topics such as trade battles, technological dominance, and issues concerning Tehran. The leaders are expected to meet multiple times before the end of the year, including at the APEC summit and the G20 summit at Trump's Doral resort.
On Friday, the Trumps and the Chinese delegation are slated to tour the National Archives to view founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.