Donald Trump raised a few eyebrows as a somewhat surreal red-carpet ceremony was put on for Chinese President Xi Jinping at a military base in Maryland on Wednesday for Xi’s arrival.
Video caught Chinese officials looking on as U.S. Marines smoothed out a red carpet for the Chinese president, who descended the stairs and was greeted by his U.S. counterpart, clad in a long winter coat and leather gloves in the 65-degree weather.
The pair, along with their spouses, then stood beside each other awkwardly as the national anthem was played, cannons fired in a salute, and a military jet soared loudly by overhead — causing Trump to visibly wince while Xi placidly watched the plane pass overhead.
“[I]t is 64 degrees at Joint Base Andrews right now and yet Trump is wearing gloves are he greets President Xi,” wrote journalist Aaron Rupar.
“Trump -- it’s YOUR airshow. How do you get scared?” asked Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who played video of Xi’s arrival for his viewers.
The ceremony was a major departure from the typically more reserved setting in which U.S. presidents meet leaders of major U.S. geopolitical rivals, like Russia and China. But Trump has broken protocol on that front before, including when he rolled out a red carpet for Russia’s Vladimir Putin when the latter visited Alaska in 2025.
By comparison, Joe Biden waited to greet Xi until the Chinese president arrived at the site of their summit in San Francisco in 2024. Like Trump, Biden greeted Xi with a military guard and red carpet — though not one carted out to the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews.
Generally speaking, American presidents (other than Trump) typically eschew tarmac greetings for foreign dignitaries. The recent visit to the United States of British monarchs King Charles and Queen Camilla followed standard protocol — Trump greeted them at the White House.
Xi’s visit comes as the U.S. and China remain at odds over a number of trade issues including AI and semiconductors, and on both topics the U.S. president has been accused by his domestic critics of being too lax with Beijing. Ahead of Wednesday’s arrival ceremony, Trump faced criticism from a Republican senator typically closely aligned with the White House over putting on a “lavish” welcome for the Chinese president.
“Had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker said in a speech delivered on the Senate floor.
He added that Trump, “during every minute of dialog” should remember that “his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.”
The senator’s criticism is a rarity on Capitol Hill, but the rebellious nature of GOP members has grown in recent weeks as the president’s approval ratings have remained at record lows and his war in Iran has plummeted to dangerously low popularity levels.
Calls on the Hill and from Republican candidates nationwide for the war to end have grown, while Trump continues to make threats about wiping out the entire country of Iran.
Xi’s visit to Washington comes as his American opposite is facing political turmoil within his Republican Party coalition and facing a potential wipeout for the GOP in the upcoming midterm elections.
The previous week in D.C. was capped off by Trump’s decision to ban MS Now, CNN and Politico from the White House. Journalists were stripped of their White House hard passes and shown to the door as they attempted to enter the premises over the weekend and on Monday, and the three organizations filed a lawsuit to block the ban. On Wednesday, TV networks including Fox News, NBC, ABC and CBS (which make up the remainder of the TV press pool) continued to boycott coverage of White House events in solidarity with their excluded colleagues.
As a result, Trump’s ceremony was largely absent from cable news shows on Wednesday, depriving the president of an audience to look presidential in front of as he battles an image problem and the frustrations of Americans who continue to face a serious cost-of-living crisis.
