US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he wants his cabinet to behave like that of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s. He recounted his bilateral meeting with Xi last month and noted how the Chinese delegation was sitting “nice and straight.”
Speaking at a breakfast meeting with Republican senators at the White House, Donald Trump said there were six officials on either side of Xi Jinping, and all of them were standing straight. “And every one of those people were standing like this,” Trump said, with his arms behind his back and his chin up. “They were at attention.”
Trump said that when he spoke to one of them, he did not get any response.
“I said, ‘Are you gonna answer me?’ I got no response. And President Xi didn’t let him have any,” adding, “I want my Cabinet to behave like that.”
“I’ve never seen men so scared in my life,” the US leader said, as the room erupted in laughter.
“Why don’t you behave like that? JD doesn’t behave like that. JD butts into conversations. I want to have that for at least a couple of days, OK, JD?” Trump said to Vice President JD Vance, after which Vance pretends to sit up straight; this was again followed by laughter.
Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Busan last month for a bilateral meeting ahead of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, marking their first in-person interaction since Trump’s return to the White House.
The meeting between the two leaders aimed at easing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
As he shook hands with Xi, Trump said, “We’re going to have a very successful meeting, I have no doubt.” Trump described Xi as a “very tough negotiator,” indicating that their dialogue would centre on long-standing economic disputes.
As the meeting with Xi began, Trump said it was “a great honour to be with a friend of mine, really, for a long time now, if you think about it.”
Trump lavished praise on Xi as the high-stakes talks began. He called the Chinese president a “distinguished and respected” and a “great leader of a great country.”
Xi returned Trump’s compliment, hailing his peacemaking efforts and spoke about the world’s “tough problems”.
Key announcements after Trump-Xi meeting
After meeting Xi, Trump said he had agreed to cut fentanyl-related tariffs on China to 10% after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea.
He added that overall tariffs on Chinese goods would be slashed to 47% from 57% in exchange for Beijing resuming US soybean purchases, keeping rare earths exports flowing and cracking down on the illicit fentanyl trade.
Trump said China would immediately purchase “large amounts” of soybeans. He said Beijing would start buying the oilseed immediately, without providing any details on volumes.
The US president said the dispute between China and the US had been “settled”. The two leaders clinched a one-year extendable deal with Xi to keep China’s rare earths exports flowing. “All the rare earth issue has been settled,” he said.