Trump gives Xi Jinping a bald eagle statue at the state banquet: symbolizing the personal relationship between the leaders of China and the United States

Why did Trump give Xi Jinping a gorgeous bald eagle statue at the state dinner?

Author, Brandon Drenon, Sareen Habeshian

Published 3 minutes ago

Reading time: 3 minutes

U.S. President Trump presented Chinese President Xi Jinping with a bald eagle statue at a grand state dinner in Washington. This bird is native to North America and is a national symbol of the United States.

The gift was presented to distinguished guests at a state banquet on Thursday. Trump said it embodied "the free-flying spirit of America."

He said that he and first lady Melania Trump were involved in the design of the statue.

The statue also reflects a precious but sometimes tricky aspect of international diplomacy: gift giving.

Such gifts are small but meaningful, and echo a larger goal of the three-day summit between Xi Jinping and Trump - to build a personal bond between the leaders of the two global superpowers.

"They have all these complex issues to discuss, but at the end of the day, they're still two people," said Daniel Kritenbrink, a partner at The Asia Group.

"So, that personal relationship is meaningful. I think the exchange of gifts is an important part of it," he said.

Conda served as a U.S. diplomat for more than 30 years, mostly in Asia. He said that for Xi Jinping, personal relationships are particularly important.

He believes that the direct relationship between Trump and Xi Jinping is the glue that maintains "the most complex and far-reaching bilateral relationship in the world."

Kunda described this kind of "leadership-level diplomacy" and he believes that Trump attaches equal importance to it.

Gift-giving has always held a unique place during Trump's presidency.

The US president has received gifts such as luxury airliners, engraved gold bars, and gold rings studded with diamonds and precious stones.

"If you understand Trump's presidency from this perspective, I think in a broad sense gift-giving is really part of his approach," said Ole Jacob Sending of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

On Thursday morning, Xi Jinping announced the gift of two Chinese giant pandas to an Atlanta zoo and the launch of a new student exchange program that will welcome 100,000 American students to study in China over the next five years.

Xi Jinping said: "Giant pandas have always been messengers of friendship between the Chinese and American people. In a few days, the two giant pandas 'Pingping' and 'Fushuang' will come to their new home at Zoo Atlanta to meet the American people."

It was unclear whether Xi Jinping gave other gifts. The BBC has contacted the White House about this.

Today, the diplomatic tradition of giving lavish gifts is still seen mainly in Gulf states and authoritarian governments.

Morten Skumsrud Anderson worked with Sendin on diplomacy and gift-giving culture. "Authoritarian countries like China give far more expensive gifts," he said.

Anderson said that in the West, this tradition has been checked and restricted by democratic systems, and its importance has been reduced.

For example, the "Emoluments Clause" in the U.S. Constitution limits the value of gifts a president can receive from foreign governments.

The current limit is $525 (£397). If the gift is worth more than that amount, it becomes federal property unless the president chooses to buy it out of his own pocket.

Similarly, if the president of the United States wants to give a gift worth more than a certain amount, it generally has to go through congressional procedures, unless the president himself pays.

"There are a lot of rules and protocol involved," Sendin said. "Carefully consider what gifts to give, where to exchange gifts, how to do it and when to do it."

"All of these things are highly orchestrated and discussed back and forth with lower level people for weeks in advance," he said.

Anderson added: "This is not a last-minute gift bought at the airport."

During Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States in 2013, then-President Obama gave him an engraved bench made of native California redwood. The two met in California at the time, and later sat on a bench together, smiling for the media to take photos.

By comparison, a gift exchange in 2009 was less successful.

At that time, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave Obama a decorative desk pen holder made from the wood of a historic anti-slavery trade ship; Obama gave Brown a set of DVDs in return, which reportedly could not be played on British DVD players.

"It was an awkward gift exchange," Sendin said.

Fortunately, Gordon White and Obama are leaders of allies rather than deep rivals trying to resolve seemingly irreconcilable differences.

"You don't want to mess it up," Sendin said, adding that an inappropriate gift could even undermine larger diplomatic goals.

In this meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping, the potential stakes are particularly high.

This is the third face-to-face meeting between the two since the beginning of Trump's second presidential term. The two countries are vying for dominance in the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry, amid growing concerns that AI could bring about apocalyptic disasters.

The summit was also held after a fierce Sino-US trade war. The two sides have only temporarily resolved the dispute with a temporary truce and extended the truce during this visit.