Trump invites China's Xi Jinping to his inauguration but may be snubbed

Foreign leaders don’t usually attend US presidential inaugurations but it’s Donald Trump’s party and he is clearly seeking a more global event to mark the occasion.

During informal conversations with world leaders, the President-elect has slipped in a casual invitation to watch him be sworn in as America’s 47th president on January 20 at the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.

The most notable invite so far has been to China’s president Xi Jinping, though it appears he has also reached out to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, according to CNN.

“This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just allies but our adversaries and our competitors too,” Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.

Whether Xi will actually attend the inauguration is not at all certain – the word is that he will decline and send a delegation instead.

Bonnie Glazer, a China expert from the German Marshall Fund told the Financial Times that Xi “will come when all eyes are on him for a separate summit. Optics are extremely important for the Chinese.”

It is no secret that Trump has a soft spot for strong leaders and considers Xi to be worthy of his admiration.

In October, Trump said of Xi in a conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan: “He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. I mean, he's a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.”

Still, Xi’s invitation comes amidst tension between China and the US which promises to escalate with Trump in the White House.

The threat of 60% tariffs on Chinese imports is likely to spark a trade war between the two countries and Chinese military activity around Taiwan is a potential source of friction.

Trump has also appointed a number of so-called China hawks to his incoming cabinet, such as Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Pete Hegseth as defense secretary.

“If you look at Trump’s team, most, if not all, are China hawks,” Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, told CNN. “I don’t think Beijing sees any of them as good news.”

Full of contradictions, Trump’s invite to Xi is not necessarily a sign that he is ready to swing to a more conciliatory position. Trump courted Xi in 2017 before launching a trade war against China in 2018.

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