President Trump, despite an appetite for grandeur, has hosted few state dinners.
But the tables are set with red linens and blossoms, and sea bass and bok choy are on the menu, as a state dinner in the East Room of the White House on Thursday evening honoring Chinese leader Xi Jinping will give President Trump a high-stakes chance at playing host. The formal dinner comes as the two countries battle over trade, artificial intelligence and global influence.
The tradition dates back to 1874 when President Ulysses S. Grant hosted the last king of Hawaii. It has long embodied U.S. soft diplomacy, a chance for a president to ease tensions with another country and forge or reaffirm long-term alliances.
Mr. Trump — known for inviting world leaders to his private clubs — has hosted only four state dinners across his two terms. Joe Biden hosted six. Ronald Reagan holds the record with 59.
Mr. Trump’s first state dinner came over a year into his first presidency, when he shared a kiss on the cheek and racks of lamb with President Emmanuel Macron of France in a relationship that has since soured.
Next to be so honored by Mr. Trump was the then-Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, in 2019, the only other state dinner of the president’s first term.
An April state dinner in the East Room for King Charles III of Britain and Queen Camilla celebrated the country’s enduring alliance, with little mention of its strains amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Mr. Trump heaped praise on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in November for the first formal dinner of his second term, although the black-tie event was not officially considered a state dinner.
Mr. Xi was last at the White House in 2015 for a state dinner hosted by Barack Obama and attended by a bevy of American technology executives. The Thursday dinner is also expected to draw tech executives looking to mingle with Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump. Tim Cook, the former chief executive of Apple, and Mark Zuckerberg, of Meta, are among those on the Thursday guest list who attended the 2015 dinner for Mr. Xi.
Mr. Biden held state dinners on the South Lawn of the White House under temporary tents, which Mr. Trump has called “not a pretty sight.” The current president has often trumpeted his White House ballroom project as necessary to expand capacity for visits from foreign dignitaries.
On the campaign trail in 2016, Mr. Trump said he would not throw a state dinner.
“We shouldn’t have dinners at all,” he said. “We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table.”
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