{"id":357538,"date":"2026-09-26T11:46:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T11:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357538\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T11:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T11:46:36","slug":"trump-wasnt-trying-to-dominate-at-state-dinner-with-xi-body-language-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357538\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump \u2018wasn’t trying to dominate\u2019 at state dinner with Xi: body language expert\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump was trying to \u201cconnect\u201d with Xi Jinping, rather than \u201cdominate\u201d him, at the White House state dinner <\/a>for the Chinese leader, according to a body language expert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sean Johns, who has 20 years of experience analyzing nonverbal communication and is the founder of the body language training company BodyLytics, told The Post that from Trump\u2019s initial handshake with Xi and through the toast, the president appeared to be trying his best to make his Chinese counterpart feel welcomed and respected during the high-stakes visit<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johns noticed the president\u00a0\u201cclosed the distance\u201d and \u201ccame towards\u201d Xi during the arrival ceremony on the North Portico, which he found \u201cnot typical for Donald Trump.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johns found Trump\u2019s handshake with Xi to be atypical from how he usually greets some world leaders. AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n

\u201cClosing the distance between people is trying to kind of like connect. In a strange way, you\u2019re connecting. So you\u2019re closing that gap,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking at with this handshake is what was not there,\u201d Johns said. \u201cBecause Donald Trump is known for the aggressive handshake<\/a>. He shakes for too long. He kind of grabs you by the arm often.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with President Xi, he didn\u2019t do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s approach to the handshake was \u201cmore of a sign of respect,\u201d according to the body language expert.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that he wasn\u2019t trying to dominate, which he usually does,\u201d Johns said, noting that Trump typically overdoes it with handshakes and aggressive pats on the back \u201cdepending on who he\u2019s dealing with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis showed that there was a lot of respect for [Xi]. And it was a very two-sided thing,\u201d he continued, adding that both leaders \u201clooked quite comfortable around each other \u2026 and there was no dominance play from either side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns believes it\u2019s possible Trump toned-down his usually aggressive body language because of the importance of Xi\u2019s visit. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Johns pointed out that at the end of the handshake<\/a> Trump forced \u201ca little false smile,\u201d which he would later deploy again during his toast for Xi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At several points in his toast, Trump displayed what Johns described as \u201cincongruence\u201d between his remarks and body language.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe emphasized that \u2018We\u2019re delighted to have you here,\u2019 but there was no body language delight \u2026\u00a0 the words were positive, but the body language was neutral,\u201d the expert noted. \u201cAnd he did this twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he said, \u2018We\u2019re happily celebrating,\u2019 It didn\u2019t look like he was happy celebrating, it just looked like protocol.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another moment that stood out to Johns during Trump\u2019s speech was when the president went off-script to invite guests to tour the new White House ballroom, which is still under construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the first time where you see a genuine smile,\u201d Johns said, \u201cand he almost came across like a naughty schoolboy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns found \u201cincongruence\u201d between the president\u2019s remarks and body language during his toast. REUTERS<\/p>\n

When discussing the ballroom, Trump became more expressive and aggressive than at any other point in his remarks or interactions with Xi.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe makes his first hand gesture, bearing in mind that his hands have been down the whole time,\u201d Johns observed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe points directly at the camera. Pointing, in body language, with the index finger, is considered aggressive,\u201d he continued, noting that again, Trump\u2019s words and body language were\u00a0\u201cnot congruent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re making a slightly aggressive gesture with a finger point, but you\u2019re saying the \u2018beautiful ballroom.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a disconnect there somewhere between the perception of perhaps the ballroom and all the drama that surrounded it,\u201d Johns said. \u201cThere was a clear message from his body language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on his body language, the president was also genuinely pleased with the large, bald eagle statue he gifted Xi at the dinner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they reveal the bald eagle statue, Trump does, kind of, two awkward steps \u2026 I think that was a closing distance gesture between him and the statue,\u201d Johns said.<\/p>\n

Johns observed that Xi\u2019s body language was \u201cmuted\u201d during his remarks at the dinner, and that he seemed to be \u201crelaxed.\u201d REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s showing approval towards it almost. You get close to things you like. So he\u2019s closed the distance and then, interestingly, he\u2019s kind of does an exaggerated look at it and then looks back at Xi \u2026. he\u2019s trying to signal to him, \u2018Look at the wonderful statue that we gave you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns\u2019 biggest takeaway was the \u201clack of physical, non-verbal aggression\u201d throughout the dinner that Trump \u201cusually shows certain people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that what it shows to me is the amount of respect and perhaps the importance of the meeting and the fact that it was an important guest that had importance to even the economy, I would say,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he took that very seriously, aside from the odd joke or two.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Trump was trying to \u201cconnect\u201d with Xi Jinping, rather than \u201cdominate\u201d him, at the White House state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[827,153,9,11,10,49,51,50,87,58,5561,14198],"class_list":["post-357538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-china","tag-donald-trump","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-politics","tag-us-news","tag-white-house","tag-xi-jinping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}