WASHINGTON — President Trump was charmer-in-chief Thursday as he hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House — gushing about their mutual respect, showing off his renovations and even escorting the autocrat inside his presidential helicopter sitting on a new granite helipad on the lawn.
What exactly the men discussed privately could be gleaned only from pleasant introductory remarks. Xi chose not to answer questions, including those from The Post, as he strolled the executive grounds as the guest of honor.
Trump hosted Xi for three hours at the White House before breaking ahead of an evening state dinner expected to include a who’s who of tech billionaires including Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Michael Dell and Tim Cook.
Protesters from China’s various oppressed minority groups rallied outside the gates, including a group dressed as Winnie the Pooh, whose uncanny resemblance to Xi has prompted censorship by Beijing.
The morning’s events featured brief opening remarks in the White House Grand Foyer, followed by a review of military bands and color guards in the Rose Garden — topped off by a flyover by fighter jets and a B-2 stealth bomber.
Xi, China’s “president for life,” has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump, but there was no hint of strife as Trump pointed out to Xi a photo of them together on a wall in the West Wing, telling his guest, “We have a lot of respect for you. We’ve had that up for a year.”
Xi was filmed laughing as Trump showed off a faux photo depicting former President Joe Biden as an autopen.
Trump and Xi were expected to touch on a range of contentious matters behind closed doors, including trade relations after last year’s dueling tariffs war.
Xi hinted in his opening remarks that he was interested in opening the US to Chinese-made cars — calling for Chinese businesses to be “treated fairly” — and gaining greater access to advanced artificial intelligence computer chips, on which he requested partnership to “develop and manage AI for good.”
He said he was “willing” to work with the US on counternarcotics — though a US official on a recent White House-organized press call ripped Beijing for not doing enough to curb shipments of fentanyl, which has killed about 488,000 Americans over the past decade, according to CDC data.
Xi also announced that two pandas would be loaned to a zoo in Atlanta.
Trump was expected to raise issues such as fentanyl and enlisting Beijing’s agreement to cease support for the Iranian and Russian militaries.
But Trump didn’t poke at Xi on the touchier subjects in public. And unlike most foreign leader visits, reporters weren’t allowed inside the Oval Office for a press conference — with photographers instead being summoned for quick snaps.
“From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people,” Trump said in the Grand Foyer of the executive mansion.
“We have spent time together all over the world, from Germany to Argentina, Japan to South Korea, and Beijing to Palm Beach, Florida. But remarkably, this is our first time meeting together here at the White House, and as President Xi has already seen, a lot has changed since he was last here.”
Trump said “our teams have been working to encourage a more balanced trading relationship, including the new market access for American farmers and ranchers” and that “we will also discuss pressing issues concerning security, technology, and super-intelligence.”
Trump visited Beijing in May and appeared eager to reciprocate the pomp of that visit, with military members stationed dramatically around the roof of the West Wing as bands and color guards marched on top of Trump’s newly installed white pavers.
The White House even sought to re-create the magic of school children seen during Trump‘s trip to Beijing when first lady Melania Trump and Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.
A group of students from the Hope Chinese School waved flags and cheered — similar to what Chinese students did earlier this year when they greeted Trump and Xi at the Great Hall of the People.
The kids, aged 8 to 15, also entertained the spouses with songs in Chinese and English. At one point, Madame Peng — a famous singer before her marriage to Xi — mouthed the words and clapped along.
Xi, China’s top leader since 2012, last visited the White House in 2015 to meet with then-President Barack Obama and was given a tour around Trump’s recent improvements to the grounds, including the helipad.
“He’s an expert on stone aside from many other things. And he loves good granite,” Trump told reporters as he and Xi returned indoors.
Xi maintained a frozen half-smile as The Post pressed him about his facilitation of fentanyl exports that killed a half-million Americans and his non-transparency on the origins of COVID-19.
Other journalists asked about Taiwan and imprisoned publisher Jimmy Lai but also yielded no reaction from the world’s most powerful dictator.
