WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month — extending a diplomatic olive branch even as Trump threatens to levy massive tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed on Thursday that Trump invited Xi, but said it was “to be determined” if the leader of the United States’ most significant economic and military competitor would attend.
“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,” Leavitt said in an appearance on Fox News’ program ”Fox & Friends.” “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 interest first.”
CBS News first reported the invitation to Xi.
Asked at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing on Thursday about Trump’s invitation, spokesperson Mao Ning responded: “I have nothing to share at present.”
Leavitt said that other foreign leaders have also been invited, but did not provide any details.
The move by Trump to invite a leader of an adversarial nation to the American moment that is Inauguration Day is unorthodox. But it also squares with his belief that foreign policy—much like a business negotiation—should be carried out with carrots and sticks to get the United States’ opponents to operate closer to his administration’s preferred terms.
Jim Bendat, a historian and author of “Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President,” said he was not aware of a previous U.S. inauguration attended by foreign head of state.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing to invite foreign leaders to attend,” Bendat said. “But it sure would make more sense to invite an ally before an adversary.”
Trump on Thursday during an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was ringing the opening bell to open the market, said he’s been “thinking about inviting certain people to the inauguration” without referring to any specific individuals.
“And some people said, ‘Wow, that’s a little risky, isn’t it?’” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Maybe it is. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.’ But we like to take little chances.”
Meanwhile, a top aide to Hungarian President Viktor Orban, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters on the world stage, said Thursday that Orban isn’t slated to attend the inauguration.
“There is no such plan, at least for the time being,” said Gergely Gulyás, Orban’s chief of staff.
The nationalist Hungarian leader is embraced by Trump but has faced isolation in Europe as he’s sought to undermine the European Union’s support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. Orban recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Every country’s chief of mission to the United States will also be invited, according to a Trump Inaugural Committee official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The invitation comes as Trump has vowed to enact massive tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to get those countries to do more to reduce illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States.
He has said that, on his first day in office in January, he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada and that China could be hit with even higher tariffs.
China produces precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, but Beijing has stepped up efforts over the last year to crack down on the export of the chemicals.
“We’ve been talking and discussing with President Xi, some things, and others, other world leaders, and I think we’re going to do very well all around,” Trump said in a CNBC interview Thursday.
Xi during a meeting with President Joe Biden last month in Beijing urged the United States not to start a trade war.
“Make the wise choice,” Xi cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also pushed back on Trump’s threats, warning such a tariffs move would be perilous for the U.S. economy as well.
Trudeau earlier this week said that Americans “are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive” and said he will retaliate if Trump goes ahead with them.
Trump responded by calling Canada a state and Trudeau the governor.
In addition to the tariff dispute, U.S.-China relations are strained over other issues, including what U.S. officials see as Beijing indirectly supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Biden administration says China has supported Russia with a surge in sales of dual use components that help keep its military industrial base afloat.
U.S. officials also have expressed frustration with Beijing for not doing more to rein in North Korea’s support for the Russian war.
China accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dispatched thousands of troops to Russia to help repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk border region. The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials.
Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration takes place a day after the U.S. deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok, to sell the social media app or face a ban in the United States.
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Associated Press writer Balint Domotor in Budapest, Hungary, contributed reporting.