Trump pumps up the pomp for Chinas Xi during White House state visit

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 ch...