Onlookers bristled after former White House adviser Ivanka Trump got a better seat than Secretary of State Marco Rubio at President Donald Trump's welcome ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Ivanka Trump and her teenage daughter, Arabella Kushner, sat between Second Lady Usha Vance and Rubio at Thursday's ceremony, Wall Street Journal White House reporter Meridith McGraw wrote on X.
The White House said the event was a state arrival ceremony honoring Xi for his first visit there in more than a decade.
The same row included Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to video that journalist Aaron Rupar posted on X.
"[W]hy is alleged private citizen Ivanka Trump sitting by JD Vance, Rubio, and Bessent?" Rupar asked.
"Who did the seating arrangement for the Pres and Xi? Ivanka is seated better than Cabinet Secretaries Rubio and Bessent .. this is a State visit," Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren wrote on X.
Ivanka Trump and her daughter had "better seats than the Secretary of State," Vanity Fair correspondent Aidan McLaughlin wrote on X.
"WTF are Ivanka and Trump's granddaughter doing there? I swear that family is so weird. Any normal person would be mortified that you included them alongside the cabinet," AMERICAblog founder John Aravosis responded on X.
McGraw reported that the teenager has "been taking Chinese lessons for years."
Donald Trump showed Xi a video of his granddaughter singing in Mandarin and reciting classical Chinese poetry during a 2017 visit to Beijing, state-run China Daily noted.
In April 2017, China gave Ivanka Trump's brand provisional approval for three trademarks on the same day she dined with Xi at Mar-a-Lago, Quartz reported, citing The Associated Press.
The trademarks gave her brand "monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world's second-largest economy," the AP reported at the time.
Donald Trump and Xi are holding talks Thursday ahead of a state dinner, CBS News reported.