For the first time in U.S. history, an incoming president will welcome a foreign leader for a peaceful transfer of power that is one of America’s most American political traditions.
President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and conservative world leaders such as Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to his inauguration. Mr. Xi has dispatched his vice president as a representative.
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No head of state has ever made an official visit to the United States for the inauguration. Several of Trump’s nominees to key Cabinet posts, including Milley and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, attended Saturday night’s Hispanic inaugural ball as special guests. Among them were Senator Marco Rubio, who was chosen to be Secretary of State, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was chosen to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Here are the foreign leaders who will be visiting Washington for the 60th Inauguration.
China
Chinese President Xi Jinping became the first foreign leader to be publicly invited to attend the inauguration ceremony in December. Mr. Xi will not attend, but Vice President Han Zheng is scheduled to be dispatched.
The announcement of Han’s deployment was made by the country’s Foreign Ministry on Friday and comes amid concerns that tensions between the United States and China could escalate under the Trump administration. Several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees are known to be China hawks, including Rubio, who has called China “the most powerful, dangerous, near-peer adversary this country has ever faced.” Also included.
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President Trump has vowed to impose tariffs and other measures on China. However, the two leaders spoke by phone on Friday and discussed trade, fentanyl and TikTok. President Trump said the meeting was “very good.”
Argentina
Milley traveled from Buenos Aires to the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club after the Nov. 5 election, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with Trump.
Milley was scheduled to attend three inaugural ceremonies over the weekend, including one of President Trump’s official inaugural balls and the swearing-in ceremony on Inauguration Day.
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Argentina’s leader calls himself an “anarcho-capitalist.” He has grown closer to Trump since the election by implementing a series of austerity measures that laid off tens of thousands of government employees, froze public infrastructure projects and imposed below-inflation wage and pension freezes. He frequently receives praise from billionaire Elon Musk.
Mr. Musk will lead a non-governmental effort to cut federal spending, regulations and personnel.
Milay hopes that good relations with the United States will lead to a new agreement between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund.
Italy
Meloni is another leader who recently visited Mar-a-Lago. Her weekly schedule includes attending a swearing-in ceremony.
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Meloni has had an unexpectedly good relationship with Democratic President Joe Biden, but is likely to form a more natural ally with Trump. She is considered an important interlocutor between Europe and the United States
georgia
Pro-Western former President of Georgia Salome Zurabichvili will attend the ceremony as a guest of US Representative Joe Wilson (RS.C.). Georgia has been thrown into chaos by protests following parliamentary elections that rebels say were rigged.
She remains the former Soviet republic’s legitimate leader after Mikheil Kavelashvili took office late last month from a party that critics say has become increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. I’ve been insisting. Kavelashvili’s ruling party denies the accusations.
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Zurabichvili told Fox News that Georgia could be “either a big success for the United States or a big problem for the United States” in the region because “Russia is always trying to dominate.”
France
French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Trump in Paris last month to mark the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, will not attend Trump’s inauguration. But the country’s far-right faction said it would travel for the inauguration.
Eric Zemur, a talk show pundit turned conservative politician, and his partner Sara Knafo, a member of the European Parliament, said they would also attend. Zemur has been convicted multiple times of inciting racial or religious hatred.
Marion Marechal, a prominent far-right politician, also said in a statement that she would also go. She is a member of the European Parliament and the niece of France’s leading conservative figure, who is eyeing a 2027 presidential election.
Who else is there?
The offices of Ecuadorian President Daniel Novoa and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña have announced that they have been invited and plan to attend the inauguration.
Taiwan sent seven people, including Legislative Chairman Han Yu, to Washington for Trump’s inauguration, but Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the delegation would not attend because the ceremony was moved indoors due to the cold weather.
Taiwan’s state-run Central News Agency also reported, citing Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the delegation will meet with American politicians and think tank academics to strengthen Taiwan-US relations. It is unclear whether they will meet with President Trump.
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Although President Trump has criticized Taiwan for withdrawing some of its semiconductor industry from the United States, U.S.-Taiwan relations have improved significantly during his first term.
During a phone call between President Trump and President Xi Jinping on Friday, the Chinese president urged the next U.S. leader to approach the Taiwan issue “with care” as it concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Beijing claims the autonomous island as Chinese territory and has vowed to annex it by force if necessary.
Associated Press writers Didi Tan, Sylvie Corbet and Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Washington, Paris and Rome.
