Xi Jinping Laughs as Trump Shows Him Biden ‘Portrait’

Donald Trump prompted a burst of laughter from Chinese President Xi Jinping after showing him a satirical “portrait” representing Joe Biden.

Xi arrived in Washington, DC, on Thursday as leaders from the world’s two largest superpowers began high-level talks.

Trump emphasized his “great friendship” with Xi and launched an elaborate charm offensive, welcoming him personally on the runway, arranging an exclusive look at the presidential helicopter and presenting him with a bald eagle statue.

The US president also guided his Chinese counterpart through the Presidential Walk of Fame, where portraits of nearly every former American president are displayed.

Biden was the conspicuous omission. In his place, Trump had displayed an image of an autopen, highlighting the device Biden used to reproduce his signature on official legislation.

Footage released by the White House showed Trump leading Xi past the collection of presidential portraits.

Pointing first toward his own image, Trump then gestured to the replacement for Biden and told Xi: “And this is the autopen… it’s Biden.”

Xi responded with a broad laugh as one of his aides appeared to interpret Trump’s comment in Mandarin.

The autopen became a major political flashpoint during the final months of Biden’s presidency.

An autopen mechanically reproduces a person’s signature and is commonly used for large volumes of paperwork or ceremonial documents. Presidents from both major US parties have relied on the technology for letters, proclamations and other official business.

Trump and his allies have made unsubstantiated claims that Biden’s use of the device undermined the validity of his decisions or indicated he was unaware of what he had approved. Trump, who frequently attacks political rivals in provocative terms, repeatedly criticized Biden for using the autopen on official documents.

Before leaving office in January 2025, Biden used the technology on a number of pardons, including measures covering family members he sought to shield from what he described as politically motivated investigations.

He also reduced several criminal sentences, including those imposed on people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.

Trump objected to those actions and announced in December 2025 that he was cancelling documents—including pardons—that he claimed Biden had approved through an autopen.

“Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized ‘AUTOPEN,’ within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect,” Trump wrote at the time.

“Anyone receiving ‘Pardons,’ ‘Commutations’, or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect,” he added in a post on Truth Social.

The exchange took place as American and Chinese officials held important negotiations that, so far, have produced limited signs of a major diplomatic breakthrough.

Xi said the discussions had generated “many new consensuses,” although the only specific agreements announced were a plan to bring 100,000 young Americans to China for exchange programs and a proposal to loan two pandas to an Atlanta zoo.

Xi once again urged the two sides to avoid the ‘Thucydides Trap’ – the theory that a rising power will come into conflict with an established one – but there was little sign of progress on thorny issues like Taiwan or artificial intelligence.

Trump and Xi hinted at big differences on their approach to the regulation of Artificial Intelligence – or ‘super intelligence’, as Trump referred to it.

While Trump has dismissed calls from tech leaders for regulations to ‘pace the frontier’ of the technology, Xi said AI should ‘always be under human control’.

‘There is some broad general agreement on the risks presented by AI, but they diverge on how to manage this,’ according to Dylan Loh of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

‘Deep suspicions and intensifying competition’ on AI mean breakthroughs on governing the technology are unlikely, Mr Loh said.

One significant deal was the extension by two months of the countries’ fragile trade truce – due to expire in November.

The detente paused a bruising trade war last year by reducing US tariffs on Chinese goods and removing Beijing’s export controls on rare earths vital to manufacturing.

‘I think the Chinese would have hoped for a longer extension, but they are also realistic,’ said Mr Loh.

The truce would provide ‘some calm on the trade front,’ he said.

Trump is ‘trying to stabilise relations for now until the US can basically decrease its vulnerabilities to Beijing’, according to Jared Mondschein, Director of Research at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney.

Trump, a self-styled deal maker, has repeatedly called on China to purchase more US goods to establish a more ‘balanced’ economic relationship.

However, Xi’s visit hasn’t yet produced any commitments for Chinese purchases of, for example, Boeing planes or American farm produce.

Trump has repeatedly called on China to help extricate the US from its conflict with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz for shipping, calls Beijing has rebuffed.

China has also been accused of helping Iran target US military assets in the Middle East.

On Thursday, Xi told the US president to end the war and come to a negotiated settlement with Tehran as soon as possible, according to a Chinese readout of the talks.

‘The idea that China is going to be a big power broker, appear publicly and negotiate solutions – I think that’s really unlikely,’ said Rana Mitter, professor of US-Asia relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

‘I don’t think that China is going to be the magic card that gets the US out of trouble in the region.’

Xi repeated his warning, given to Trump in May, that he should show ‘prudence’ over Taiwan.

But he also went further than he had in that meeting by urging the US to explicitly oppose Taiwan independence.

The island, which China claims and has vowed to bring under its control, relies on the US for its defence.

A $14billion US arms package for Taiwan has been put on hold and is ‘under review’, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

In May, Trump suggested the sales could be used as a bargaining chip with China, raising fears Taiwan’s security could be traded away.

Trump ‘has been willing to talk about the levels of arms sales in a way that previous administrations haven’t’, said Harvard’s Mitter.

‘But I don’t see any sign… there’s going to be a fundamental change in terms of US assurances (to Taiwan),’ he said.