All posts tagged "xi"

Trump humiliated as he rolls out red carpet for leader who didn't return favor: onlookers

President Donald Trump personally greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews — a display of deference that observers say wasn't returned when Trump visited Beijing in May.

HuffPost senior reporter S.V. Dáte was among the first to flag the historic nature of the gesture, noting "going out to the airport to greet a foreign leader has not been done in 60 years," and that "presidents in recent decades have done that only for papal visits." His verdict: "Trump is doing it to honor a ruthless dictator."

Multiple accounts noted Trump and first lady Melania Trump stood at the bottom of the stairs as six F-16s and six F-22s sat parked behind them and a red carpet rolled across the concrete, kicking off a three-day state visit including a formal dinner. It was, several pointed out, the first time an American president has greeted a visiting head of state that way since John F. Kennedy welcomed British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1962.

Xi did not extend Trump the same courtesy in May.

Social media users were quick to note the hypocrisy. One user going by Covie wrote: "Notice that President Xi didn't even go to the airport to meet trump when trump visited China but trump is at the airport putting on a whole show to greet Xi when Xi visits US. Republicans' daddy has a daddy." Tech commentator O.C. Omar added: "You know who is Boss."

An account tracking Chinese news, Dailylifenews, resurfaced an old Trump tweet mocking Barack Obama for hosting a visit from then-Vice President Xi Jinping in 2012, when Trump called the honors "so wrong."

Uppsala University peace and conflict researcher Ashok Swain contrasted the treatment with Trump's chillier reception of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who "didn't even come to White House front door."

Commentator Mario Nawfal noted the stakes: Beijing remains the top source of fentanyl precursor chemicals blamed for roughly 35,000 American deaths in the past year, with tariffs, chips and rare earths also on the table. "If he walks away from three days of pageantry without a single commitment," Nawfal wrote, "Beijing got the photographs for free."

The last President who went to the tarmac to receive a visiting head of state was John F Kennedy in 60s. Trump is rolling out the red carpet for Xi in the hope that America and China can manage the Great Reset. https://t.co/Ce76vytzk8
— Zakka Jacob (@Zakka_Jacob) September 24, 2026

'Don't worry about China': Trump claims 'President Xi just had a bad moment'

Donald Trump on Sunday posted a comment about China, telling citizens not to "worry" about the country or his "highly respected" Chinese counterpart.

The president took to his own social media site, Truth Social, over the weekend, where he insisted there was nothing to worry about with China, a nation which Trump recently threatened with even more tariffs in an escalating trade dispute.

"Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!" Trump wrote Sunday. "Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!! President DJT."

See the post here.

Trump's 'high school' antics with Chinese president scorched by CNN's Jim Sciutto

The U.S. trade war with China seemed to have reached a stalemate Friday, with China calling President Donald Trump's 125 percent tariffs a "joke," then hitting back with the same sky-high rates.

Trump's 125 percent tariffs were issued on top of the standing 20 percent tariffs, bringing the total to 145 percent for Chinese goods.

CNN's Boris Sanchez asked anchor Jim Sciutto about his "perspective" on how the White House was handling the situation, specifically the fact that Trump is demanding Chinese leader Xi Jinping reach out first for a phone call, and not the other way around.

"Can you get any more high school in matters of state? It's ridiculous," Sciutto scoffed, while anchor Brianna Keilar mocked, "He's gotta call me, Jim!"

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Sciutto continued, "The Chinese impression is that they are willing to at least negotiate — not necessarily on Donald Trump's terms — but to talk. But their impression is that the U.S. is not open channels and not made an effort to open up channels to allow that. So, now you have the U.S. president saying, 'Well, you know, I'm not going to open those channels, China has to open them first.' It's kind of ridiculous at the end of the day, because you are playing with the interests of of American consumers, Chinese consumers, et cetera."

Sciutto added that in President Xi's statement, he claimed China would not go higher than 125 percent "because this is getting a little ridiculous."

"That's both a signal to say we're not going to get caught up in this tit-for-tat to the degree that the president is, but it's also an opening to say, okay, we're are capping this for now, and that perhaps offers a way forward that we could begin talking about how to bring these down," Sciutto said.

He added that China doesn't want to be seen as "kowtowing" to the West, "so, the browbeating is not a great diplomatic strategy."

Watch the clip below or at this link.

'Whoops': Social media slams Trump after he 'mistakes Beijing for Taiwan' at rally

Donald Trump made a splash by rallying in New Jersey, a state where some polls show he doesn't have a shot, but social media users were more focused on the former president's slip-up on China.

One of the first things Trump said at his rally in the Garden State went viral online. He thanked someone in the crowd, a former football player and Trump "golfing friend," named O.J. While Trump was roundly mocked, some said Trump was referring to someone other than the late accused murderer O.J. Simpson.

The next thing that caught attention online was Trump's reference to China.

ALSO READ: Trump vs. history: Former presidents typically implode on their comeback tours

"Take a look at Xi, president Xi of China, talking about Beijing. Now they've got ships circling, they have planes, but they never were doing anything," Trump said at his Saturday rally. He was likely intending to say "Taiwan."

A Biden-Harris campaign account said a "confused Trump" was claiming that "Chinese president Xi Jinping has 'ships circling' Beijing." The account noted that "Beijing is the landlocked capital of China."

Republican Voters Against Trump, @AccountableGOP, echoed those sentiments.

"Beijing is landlocked," the group of conservatives said in response on Saturday. "And also part of China."

@Acyn also added, "Whoops, Trump warns that President Xi has been talking about Beijing."

A conservative going by the name @jso_patriot had this to say after seeing the rally footage:

"Trump mistakes Beijing for Taiwan and you want me to vote for him," he said.

Watch the video below or click the link.

'This is bonkers': Trump slammed for calling Putin and Kim Jong Un 'very fine people'

Donald Trump on Friday night took a trip back to his roots when he referred to Kim Jong Un, Putin, and other foreign dictators as "very fine people."

Trump, who was delivering remarks in Concord, New Hampshire, earlier in his speech apparently confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, resulting in the ex-president blaming the former for the events of Jan. 6. In this instance, however, Trump was claiming that Haley isn't up to the task of presidency.

"She cannot do this job," he said, naming the dictators and then saying they are "very fine people you have to deal with."

MSNBC personality Mehdi Hasan had this to say:

"Trump in 2017 referred to Nazis as ‘very fine people’. Trump in 2024 refers to foreign dictators as ‘very fine people.’ And almost half of Americans and much of the GOP is ready to make him president *again*. Sheesh."

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David Corn, Mother Jones' Washington bureau chief, said that Trump is claiming "that the woman he appointed UN ambassador is not smart enough and not tough enough. What does that say about the guy who hired her? And yes he referred to Putin and Kim as 'very fine people.' This is bonkers."

Jay Nordlinger, the senior editor for National Review, said, "They are not very fine people. They are murderous dictators. Americans, please stop this man from being president again," Nordlinger wrote.

Authoritarian expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat also threw in her two cents.

"So Communists and Fascists are both very fine people. It's just democrats that he despises."

Dem lawmaker Adam Schiff also accused Trump of coddling terroristic nations.

"Tonight, Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un 'very fine people,'" he said. "He's not hiding who his friends are - and they're no friends of the United States."