(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited China‘s President Xi Jinping to his inauguration in January, his spokesperson said Thursday.
Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed reports about the invitation on Fox News on Thursday morning.
Asked if she could confirm if Trump has invited Xi to his inauguration, Leavitt said, “That is true, yes and this is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors, too. We saw this in his first term — he got a lot of criticism for it; but it led to peace around this world; he is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America’s interests first.”
Leavitt said it is “to be determined” if the Chinese president has RSVP’d, and that other world leaders are being invited as well.
CBS News was first to report that Xi Jinping had been invited.
In October, in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Trump called Xi a “brilliant guy.”
“He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. I mean, he’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not,” he said.
Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on imports from China.
He and Xi last met at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019.
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