Trump Hosts Xi for State Dinner, Highlighting Tech and Personal Diplomacy
The high-profile event features a menu of sea bass and a guest list packed with tech titans, offering a symbolic display of the U.S. leader's focus on personal connections and a tech-driven agenda.
President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state dinner at the White House, an event marked by a meticulously curated guest list of tech industry leaders and a menu designed to project warmth and significant personal diplomacy. The dinner, held Thursday, provided a stage for softer details of international relations, potentially signaling the state of meatier policy discussions held behind closed doors.
The leaders had previously focused on substantial policy matters, including tensions over Taiwan, trade, and artificial intelligence. This dinner, however, turned attention to the more visible aspects of diplomacy, with Trump himself calling it "the hottest ticket in town" and noting the attendance of "the entire tech world, the entire banking world and a lot more."
Edgard Kagan, senior adviser and chair in China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, suggested the dinner aimed to showcase "the positive vibes surrounding the visit" and signal the president's commitment to "a close personal connection with Xi."
The menu, with assistance from First Lady Melania Trump in its preparation, included yellow squash velouté with wild mushrooms and herbs as a first course, followed by sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy and roasted eggplant. Dessert featured vanilla crémeux with sour cherry confit and walnut frangipane, accompanied by honey ice cream from the White House.
The dinner followed an unusual step by Trump, who personally greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. This was a departure from the norm, where presidents typically await guests at the White House for the formal welcome.
Earlier on Thursday, at a White House arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, Trump stated, "From the time of my first election in 2016 President Xi and I have forged a friendship." The ceremony included military pageantry and a flyover by two B-1 bombers.
Among the prominent technology figures expected to attend were Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai of Google, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies. This reflects a continued emphasis on the tech sector, echoing a similar focus during Xi's state dinner for Trump in Beijing in May, which included tech leaders such as Tim Cook, formerly Apple's CEO, Musk, and Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive.
Trump has previously expressed a desire to surpass the grandeur of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where he was hosted by Xi, referring to the White House ballroom he is constructing as the "Great Hall of the United States."
In contrast to the current elaborate dinner, Trump in 2015, during his first presidential run, had suggested a more casual approach to hosting Xi, telling supporters to "Just take them to McDonald’s and go back to the negotiating table." He later specified that Xi might warrant a "double-size Big Mac."
The leaders' first meeting in 2017 occurred at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, a setting chosen for its more relaxed atmosphere compared to a formal Washington summit. That meeting included a notable moment where Trump informed Xi of a U.S. missile strike on Syria during dessert, an event Trump recounted as Xi was "eating his cake."