Expert explains Trump's 'power gestures' as he reunites with China's president
Topics: US News, Politics, China, Donald Trump
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
Topics: US News, Politics, China, Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s body language has been studied when it comes to his interactions with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the pair reunite once again.
Trump and Xi met in Beijing, which has seen the POTUS take on his first official visit to China since his last trip in 2017.
However, while previous meetings have seemed to have gone well, when both men took to the Great Hall of the People yesterday to pose for pictures, something seemed amiss.
Namely, the way Trump’s body language was trying to say, according to body language expert, Judi James.
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She explained that ‘both men adopt a mirrored pose of alpha power’ in the images, as their feet adopt a ‘splayed’ stance, suggesting their 'confident status.’
However, there was a ‘power’ move Trump made, and it didn’t go unnoticed.
James told The Sun: “Trump set his tone from the moment he stepped from his car.”
She explained that an instance where he was seen ‘pausing to button his jacket’, where ‘he applied an emphatically serious mouth clamp and took his time to appear calm and unhurried.’
This, she said, led to him locking ‘eyes with a waiting Xi’, where he then ‘performed his “bullfrog” smile’ that showed that he recognized the leader as well as a ‘state of overall seriousness’.
You can watch the handshake yourself below:
Afterwards, James said: “Trump used several minor power gestures, throwing his hand out first to initiate the handshake and pulling Xi and himself closer while rotating to be seen to the cameras as they shook for about ten seconds.”
This is akin to his usual controversial handshake which sees the POTUS pull people towards him and grip their hands.
Just as he has been shown to do before, James said: “Trump’s patting of Xi’s hand as the shake juddered between them was a power-pat ritual but one longer pat appeared to be used to show their friendship and ability to cement the deal.”
But as the pair stood outside Temple of Heaven, she says Trump displayed some ‘micro-signals that suggested he was emotionally overwhelmed.’
She said: “There was none of the kind of non-verbal purring or celebratory smugness we saw during the King’s visit and no showboating, either.
“Trump appeared to take a deep breath in and perform a body-bracing ritual as though suddenly very aware of exactly how much is at stake in this meeting.”
Trump is due to stay in China until May 15.
UNILAD reached out to the White House for comment.