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December 27, 2017
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Where’s the Party? Trump Yet to Host a State Dinner

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE In this Nov. 9, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping participate in a welcome ceremony in Beijing,
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — China. Trump is the first president in decades to close his first year in office without welcoming a counterpart on a grand state visit to
President Donald Trump
couldn’t stop talking about the U.S. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
the red carpets, military
parades and fancy dinners Last month it was Xi’s turn Beijing on what was billed tary Sarah Huckabee Sand- the administration hopes
that were lavished upon to literally roll out the red as a “state visit, plus.” Trump ers said there is no “singular to schedule a visit early in
him during state visits on his carpet. The Chinese leader also made state visits to reason” why Trump hasn’t 2018.
recent tour of Asia. “Mag- poured on the pageantry South Korea and Vietnam. extended a state visit invi-
nificent,” he declared at as he welcomed Trump to White House press secre- tation yet, but added that Continued on Page 3
one point on the trip.
But Trump has yet to recip-
rocate, making him the first
president in almost a cen-
tury to close his first year in
office without welcoming
a visiting counterpart to
the U.S. with similar trap-
pings.
Trump spoke dismissively
of state dinners as a can-
didate, when he panned
President Barack Obama’s
decision to welcome Chi-
nese President Xi Jinping
with a 2015 state visit. Such
visits are an important dip-
lomatic tool that includes
a showy arrival ceremony
and an elaborate dinner
at the White House.
“I would not be throwing
(Xi) a dinner,” Trump said
at the time. “I would get
him a McDonald’s ham-
burger and say we’ve got
to get down to work.”