The News
US President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to his inauguration, his transition spokesperson told multiple outlets Thursday, signaling a potential thawing of relations between Washington and Beijing amid a worsening trade war between the two powers.
The invite, if accepted, would be a break with protocol: While foreign diplomats typically attend inaugurations, no foreign head of state has come to a president’s swearing-in since records began in 1874. It’s not clear whether Xi has accepted or intends to attend.
Xi is not the only leader on the guest list: Trump also invited Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is “still considering,” CBS News reported.
SIGNALS
Invitation to Xi is a “longshot” given Beijing-Washington tensions
Xi Jinping is “unlikely” to accept the invitation, the South China Morning Post argued, if for no reason but the procedural difficulties of such a last-minute trip, as well as concerns over how the visit may be perceived domestically given China’s contention relationship with the US. “Does it reflect a kind of ‘royal prerogative’ on Trump’s part to have other leaders attend and acknowledge his ‘crowing?’” one international relations expert posed. Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened across-the-board tariffs on Chinese goods, while China has recently hit out at Nvidia and restricted some critical mineral exports in retaliation.
Trump reengages signature unpredictability
Donald Trump is expected to reprise his first-term approach to foreign policy, using the threat of trade pressures and a cultivated air of unpredictability to fulfill his agenda. Mexico last week announced it had apprehended 5,200 migrants in a single day, as the country comes under pressure to crack down on border crossings and drug trafficking or face tariffs. The president-elect’s mercurial approach could also benefit some nations, particularly Ukraine, the former head of NATO told Foreign Policy: “[Trump] unpredictability combined with his desire to look like a winner could be used to help the Ukrainians build up a leverage... unpredictability can be very forceful when it comes to deterrence.”