Trump’s inauguration will be first attended by foreign leaders
By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press
For the first time in U.S. history, a president-elect will welcome foreign leaders for one of the most American political traditions — the peaceful transfer of power.
President-elect Donald Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and conservative world leaders such as Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni to the inauguration. Xi is sending his vice president as his representative.
No heads of state have previously made an official visit to the U.S. for the inauguration. Some of them, such as Milei and Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña, were special guests at the Hispanic inaugural ball Saturday night, where several of Trump’s nominees for key Cabinet positions made appearances. That included U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, chosen to lead the State Department, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped to head the Health and Human Services Department.
Here is a look at the foreign leaders who are coming to Washington for the 60th inauguration:
China
Chinese President Xi Jinping was the first foreign leader whose invitation to the inauguration became public in December. Xi will not attend but is sending Vice President Han Zheng.
The announcement to dispatch Han was made Friday by the country’s foreign ministry, and it comes as the rivalry between the U.S. and China may escalate under Trump. Several of Trump’s Cabinet picks are known China hawks, including Rubio, who has called China “the most potent, dangerous and near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.”
Trump has vowed to impose tariffs and other measures on China. But the two leaders spoke on the phone on Friday and discussed trade, fentanyl and TikTok. Trump said the call was a “very good one.”
Argentina
Milei was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump after the Nov. 5 election, traveling from Buenos Aires to the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Milei was scheduled to attend three inaugural galas over the weekend and one of the official inaugural balls that Trump will attend on Inauguration Day, as well as the swearing-in ceremony.
Argentina’s leader describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist.” He receives praise frequently from billionaire Elon Musk, who has grown closer to Trump since the election, for implementing a series of austerity measures that laid off tens of thousands of government workers, froze public infrastructure projects and imposed wage and pension freezes below inflation.
Musk will lead a non-governmental effort to cut federal government spending, regulations and personnel.
Milei hopes good relations with the U.S. could help Argentina reach a new deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Italy
Meloni is another leader who has recently visited Mar-a-Lago. Her weekly agenda says she will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Meloni kept unexpectedly good relations with Democratic President Joe Biden but is likely to form a more natural alliance with Trump. She is considered a key interlocutor between Europe and the U.S.
Georgia
Pro-Western former Georgia President Salome Zourabichvili will attend the ceremony as a guest of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. Georgia has been wracked by protests following a parliamentary election that opposition groups alleged was rigged.
She has maintained she is still the legitimate leader of the former Soviet republic after Mikheil Kavelashvili was inaugurated as president late last month from a party that critics have accused of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. Kavelashvili’s ruling party has denied those accusations.
Zourabichvili told Fox News that Georgia could be “the big success for America or the big problem for America” in the region because “Russia is always trying to dominate.”
France
French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Trump last month in Paris during the Notre Dame Cathedral reopening, won’t be at Trump’s inauguration. But far-right figures from the country have said they are traveling for the inauguration.
Eric Zemmour, a talk show pundit turned conservative politician, and his partner, Sarah Knafo, a member of the European Parliament, said they will attend. Zemmour was convicted multiple times of inciting racist or religious hatred.
Prominent far-right politician Marion Maréchal said in a statement that she would go as well. She is a member of the European Parliament and niece of the leading conservative figure in France eyeing the 2027 presidential election.
Who else?
The offices of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña have said they were invited to the inauguration and planned to attend.
Taiwan sent legislative speaker Han Kuo-yu and seven others to Washington for Trump’s inauguration, but Taiwan’s foreign ministry said its delegates would not attend the ceremony now that it has been moved indoors because of cold weather.
Taiwan’s official Central News Agency, citing Taiwan’s foreign ministry, also reported that the delegates would meet American politicians and think tank scholars to cement Taiwan-U.S. relations. It’s unclear if they will meet Trump.
Trump has criticized Taiwan for pulling some of the semiconductor industry from the U.S., but U.S.-Taiwan relations also significantly improved during his first term.
On a phone call Friday between Trump and Xi, the Chinese president urged the incoming U.S. leader to approach the Taiwan issue “with prudence” because it is about China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Beijing claims the self-governed island as Chinese territory and vows to annex it by force if necessary.
Associated Press writers Didi Tang, Sylvie Corbet and Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Washington, Paris and Rome.