President Donald Trump has been mocked over a resurfaced tweet attacking former president Obama for hosting China’s Xi Jinping in 2012.
Trump personally welcomed Xi to the U.S. at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday, rolling out the red carpet as part of a historic three-day state visit. However, 14 years ago and before he entered politics, Trump criticized Obama for meeting with then-Vice President Xi.
“So wrong! @BarackObama is hosting China's VP Xi Jinping today at the Pentagon with a full honor ceremony with music and cannons…” Trump wrote at the time.
Social media users quickly flocked to X to point out that it was now Trump who was hosting Xi at the White House, with YouTuber Adam Mockler replying to the U.S. president’s old tweet with an image of him welcoming his Chinese counterpart.
“This you?” Mockler wrote.
Another replied with a GIF of Trump saying: “Well, that’s a big statement!”
“There's always a tweet…” another poster wrote, referring for the tendency of old messages coming back to haunt the poster years later.
The visit Trump had been referring to in 2012 saw Obama hosting Xi amid tensions between the U.S. and China over trade practices, as well as a crackdown on protests in Tibet.
“We want to work with China to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system,” Obama told reporters during Xi’s visit.
“On critical issues like human rights we will continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of recognizing the aspirations and rights of all people,” Obama added.
At the time, Trump was intensely critical of China, even going as far as to claim that the country had invented the concept of global warming.
“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” he wrote on X, when it was known as Twitter, in 2012.
Trump’s second stint in the Oval Office has seen him imposing tariffs on China before the two countries eventually agreed to a trade truce. The commander-in-chief traveled to China in May, in his second state visit to the country.
Trump’s greeting of Xi at Joint Base Andrews marked the first time since 1962 that a U.S. president personally welcomed a political, secular foreign leader at the base. Trump also met Russian President Vladimir Putin as he disembarked his plane in Alaska last year.
“I thought it was a great little meeting, a great greeting, and I think they appreciate it,” Trump told reporters of his meeting with Xi.
Trump also revealed that the visit will see the two presidents discussing a range of topics, including the war in Iran.
“I'll be talking about that and many other subjects – but it's all coming along well, including that,” he said, referring to the conflict.
