Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) responded to President-elect Trump’s invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend Opening day in Januarysaying that their acceptance would send a global “signal”.
“Look, I think Trump believes in constant offense, constant momentum, to keep things going,” Gingrich told Fox New’s Jesse Watters in an interview Wednesday.
“I think he gets up every day and tries to figure out, you know, ‘Let’s go to McDonald’s or let’s go to the garbage truck,’ whatever it takes, but he wants to be on offense,” he continued. “I suspect he woke up, looked around and thought, ‘Yes, I think my good friend Xi Jinping, we haven’t been together for a long time, why not?'”
Trump extended the invitation to Xi last month, shortly after defeating Vice President Harris take back the White Housebut it was not clear whether the Chinese leader had accepted it, CBS News reports. The president-elect’s team has also raised the possibility of other world leaders attending the transition ceremony, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Trump has often announced their relationship with Xi, although he plans to do so introduce high rates in China in the next term.
The two have met before, including when Trump invited Xi to his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2017.
Trump has threatened it impose new tariffs in Canada, Mexico and China on his first day in office. The Chinese tariff will be 10 percent on all goods, on top of existing tariffs imposed by the president-elect during his first term.
It remains unclear whether Xi will head to Washington in the new year, but Gingrich said the invitation alone was a “tremendous move.”
“I think there’s a 50/50 chance that Xi Jinping will show up, which you have to admit, in terms of sending a signal to the planet, that would be pretty incredible,” he said.
