Chinese President Xi Jinping Laughs as Trump Shows Him Joe Biden ‘Portrait’

Chinese President Xi Jinping burst out laughing after Donald Trump showed him a mocking “portrait” of Joe Biden.

Xi arrived in Washington, DC, on Thursday for high-level talks between the world’s two leading superpowers.

Trump emphasized his “great friendship” with Xi and mounted an elaborate welcome for the Chinese leader. He greeted him on the runway, offered him an unusual tour of the presidential helicopter and presented him with a statue of a bald eagle.

Trump also escorted Xi to the Presidential Walk of Fame, a gallery displaying portraits of nearly all former US presidents.

The notable exception was Biden. In place of a portrait of the former president, Trump had installed a photograph of an autopen—a pointed reference to Biden’s use of the device to sign legislation.

Footage released by the White House showed Trump guiding Xi past the presidential portraits.

After gesturing toward his own portrait, Trump told Xi: “And this is the autopen… it’s Biden.”

Xi responded with a hearty laugh as one of his aides appeared to translate Trump’s remark into Mandarin.

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

The device reproduces a person’s signature with precision and is generally used for large volumes of documents or ceremonial paperwork. Presidents from both major US political parties have used autopens to sign letters and proclamations.

Trump and his supporters have made a series of unfounded claims that Biden’s use of the autopen invalidated his official actions or indicated that he was not fully aware of them. Trump, who is known for his provocative political style and criticism of his opponents, repeatedly focused on Biden’s use of the device to sign government documents.

Before leaving office in January 2025, Biden used the technology to issue several pardons, including pardons for family members he sought to shield from politically motivated investigations.

He also commuted criminal sentences, including those imposed on non-violent drug offenders.

Trump objected to the move and announced in December 2025 that he was terminating documents—including pardons—that he said had been signed by his predecessor using an autopen.

At the time, Trump wrote: “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.”

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The exchange came as US and Chinese officials held significant talks that, so far, have produced few major diplomatic breakthroughs.

Xi said the meetings had produced “many new consensuses.” However, the only concrete agreements announced were a pledge to invite 100,000 young Americans to China for exchanges and a plan to lend two pandas to a zoo in Atlanta.

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’.

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‘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.