Trump relishes showing Xi his Marine One chopper and new White House helipad

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump showed off some of his favorite things at the White House for the visiting leader of communist China on Thursday — bringing him inside his Marine One helicopter and exhibiting a new granite landing pad he built for it, along with the hulking, nearby construction site that will one day be a ballroom.

Xi was making his first state visit to the U.S. in 11 years, and the geopolitical rivals had a long list of thorny subjects before them, including the risks of unchecked artificial intelligence, Taiwan, trade tensions over tariffs and the war in Iran, a country with which Beijing has close economic ties.

But Trump made time for a tour of his White House projects. After 90 minutes in the Oval Office, he walked his Chinese counterpart out to the South Lawn, where his chopper had been parked in advance on the new granite landing area.

As the leaders approached, a Marine opened the door and saluted as Trump and Xi climbed aboard with a small group of aides and translators. They looked around and chatted with the pilots for several minutes, though the aircraft never took off.

Trump also spent time gesturing toward the ballroom he is building where the East Wing once stood. Xi peered at two hulking concrete towers under construction as Trump intently watched Xi’s face while he spoke about the project, out of earshot of a group reporters summoned for the occasion.

Trump says Xi ‘loves good granite’

The president’s attempts to impress Xi come as he’s built his party’s midterm election messaging strategy around slamming Democrats as “communists.”

Trump has devoted an increasingly large portion of his second term to building projects around the White House and greater Washington. He has spent weeks saying crews were scrambling to finish the helipad in time for the Chinese leader’s visit and lamenting that the ballroom wouldn’t be done.

“We had a great meeting and he has great interest in granite,” Trump said after giving Xi a first-hand look.

“He’s an expert on stone, aside from many other things — and he loves good granite,” he said.

Trump gestured with relish and pointed to the large letters spelling out the “Seal of the President of the United States” on its surface. He enthusiastically touched Xi’s arm repeatedly, and China’s leader even returned the gesture a single time, reaching to tap Trump back once.

During Xi’s visit, the president didn’t miss the chance to brag about the photos he’s hung inside the West Wing, images of Trump around the world, framed in gold.

Trump showed Xi a picture of the two of them taken when the U.S. president visited Beijing in May, according to a social media video posted by a White House aide.

“Who is that? I don’t recognize him!” Trump joked. “That’s great,” Trump said in the video. “We have a lot of respect for you. We have this up. We’ve had that up for a year. A lot of respect,” Trump said.

Trump also showed Xi the wall-mounted copy of the Declaration of Independence he had installed in the Oval Office, according to a handout image released by the Chinese Embassy.

Trump also gives Xi a glimpse of his autopen gag

Trump’s tour started even before their Oval Office session, when Trump walked Xi past a row of presidential portraits Trump has installed along the colonnade between the White House residence and the West Wing — pausing to gesture grandly at his own picture.

There are two portraits of Trump, one for each of his terms. Between them, instead of a picture of President Joe Biden, Trump has hung a depiction of an autopen signing his Democratic predecessor’s name — a reference to Trump’s frequent allegation that Biden was not up to the job by the end of his term in office.

An aide’s video showed Trump pointing to the three images, saying, “Trump, and then Trump, and this is the autopen,” as Xi laughed.

“It’s Biden,” Trump said, slapping Xi on the arm.