US President Donald Trump presented Chinese President Xi Jinping with a sculpture of a bald eagle, the national symbol of the United States, during a state dinner at the White House in Washington.
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The gift was unveiled before VIP guests at Thursday’s dinner and represented “the free and soaring spirit of America”, Trump said.
Trump said he and First Lady Melania Trump had participated in the design of the sculpture. The statue is part of the tradition of diplomatic gift-giving, an important but sometimes sensitive aspect of international diplomacy.
On Thursday, Xi announced that China would gift two pandas to a zoo in Atlanta and launch a new student exchange programme aimed at welcoming 100,000 US students to study in China over five years.
"The giant panda have been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and the Americans," Xi said. "In a few days, two pandas - Ping Ping and Fu Shuang - will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people."
Gifts have featured prominently during Trump’s presidency, with the US president receiving items including a luxury jumbo jet, an engraved gold bar and a diamond-and-jewel-encrusted gold ring.
The US Constitution’s emoluments clause sets a monetary limit on gifts a president can accept from a foreign government. The current limit is $525 (£397). Gifts exceeding that value become federal property unless the president chooses to purchase them with his own money.
US presidents are also required to seek congressional approval when accepting certain gifts above the permitted threshold, unless they personally pay for them.
Xi is expected to leave Washington after visiting the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are held. The two leaders have sought to maintain ties between the world’s two largest economies, though the visit did not produce major breakthroughs on issues including trade and artificial intelligence safety.
The visit comes as the US marks the 250th anniversary of its founding. Trump said on Thursday that he wanted to show Xi “some of the greatest treasures of that proud history.”
