As somebody who has lined US presidential inaugurations on and off since Invoice Clinton’s first in 1993, essentially the most jarring photos for me to this point will not be the presence of company executives and tech titans contained in the Capitol Rotunda — moneyed pursuits are all the time a part of inaugural festivities, albeit normally in much less seen roles — however relatively the overseas leaders who’re there.
Trump-friendly politicians akin to Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, and Giorgia Meloni, prime minister of Italy, are seated collectively close to the again of the room, a transparent sign of the worldwide populist caucus which is rising worldwide and has been energised by Trump’s return.
However sitting close to them is Han Zheng, China’s vice-president, whose presence sends a much more sophisticated message. Trump has despatched very combined alerts on the subject of Beijing, persevering with his anti-China rhetoric as a part of his nativist, America First financial agenda, that may counsel a rekindling of the commerce warfare he waged throughout his first time period.
However a lot of what he’s executed within the pre-inaugural interval has softened that message, from inviting a Chinese language consultant to the inauguration to vowing to strike a deal to maintain China-owned TikTok working inside the US. As traditional with Trump on the overseas stage, he appears to be holding everybody guessing as to how he plans to strategy Beijing.
