Trump invites Chinese leader Xi Jinping to his inauguration

President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his inauguration next month.

In an interview on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that an invitation was extended to Mr. Xi, but said it’s still undetermined if he will attend.

“This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies but our adversaries and our competitors too,” Ms. Leavitt said. “We saw this in his first term. He got a lot of criticism for it, but it led to peace around this world.”

She said there was “precedent” to invite foreign leaders to the presidential inauguration. However, it would be a shock if Mr. Xi actually attended the Jan. 20 event.

Mr. Trump’s relationship with China’s president has had its ups and downs. The two have met several times. But, Mr. Trump has already threatened tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing does not crack down on the flow of fentanyl from their country to the United States.

China has said it is prepared to impose tariffs and other trade restrictions on the U.S. if Mr. Trump carries through with his threats.

“I’ve had many talks about China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular fentanyl, being sent into the United States — but to no avail,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social last month. “Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this, but unfortunately, they never followed through.”