


President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month.
Inauguration officials are organizing for the possibility Xi and other foreign leaders will come to Trump’s swearing-in, CBS News reported. It’s unclear whether Xi has accepted the invitation.
If the Chinese president comes to Trump’s inauguration, it would be the first time any foreign leader has attended such an event since at least 1874.
Trump’s transition team neither confirmed nor denied the report but added that “world leaders are lining up” to meet with Trump.
“World leaders are lining up to meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to power and restore peace through American strength around the globe,” Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Washington Examiner.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who visited with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate this week, said he is “still considering” whether to attend the ceremony.
Xi’s attendance at such an event would be a significant step for the U.S.-China relationship, though Trump’s motivations for reportedly inviting him remain unclear. The two countries have a contentious relationship underlined by Congress’s decision to ban TikTok over fears its Chinese parent company could be using American users’ data.
Trump himself has threatened to increase tariffs on China, pledging to levy at least a 10% tariff.
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Since Trump won the election, he has met with numerous world leaders, such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Argentina’s Javier Milei, and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
Trump recently attended the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris along with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Prince William.