A body language has analysed a previous meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, explaining how the President actually feels about the Russian leader.
Trump has been in office for less than two months, but we've already seen a plethora of changes made by the 78-year-old that will have an effect on the US and the rest of the world.
He's had a very public argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called out the Irish Prime Minister for 'taking advantage' of the US in the past couple of weeks, among his many policy changes.
But now, the President's seemingly positive relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been put under the microscope by a body language expert, who has gone over footage from one of the pair's past meetings.
Advert
Trump has been trying to achieve peace through talks with both Putin and Zelenskyy over their nations' ongoing conflict, and though Russia first rejected ideas for a ceasefire, Putin has since announced that he 'absolutely supports' the idea for one as long as certain conditions are met.
Now, body language expert Judi James spoke to The Mirror after watching Trump's and Putin's meeting in Helsinki, Finland, back in 2018.
She described their relationship was 'complex' and said that body language 'can often appear performative'.
"Both men prefer the alpha leadership style, with displays of physical strength passing for political power and status," she pointed out.
Advert
Focusing on Trump, she highlighted that he likes to 'present himself as cool, sometimes icy' with the Russian President.
"But when the two men do dig into their meetings the body language can suggest Trump's desire to discover and display bonds between them and to use vocabulary that sounds intended to imply shared objectives and like-minded decision-making," she explained.
James went on: "Both also display a capacity for a matching sense of humour that is often apparent in their cues and tie-signs. Humour can feel like the greatest form of bonding glue.
"It is another form of power signalling and Trump and Putin will often throw out hints that suggest their relationship has an unserious facet to it behind the scenes. They discuss sports before politics here as proof of a deeper understanding and rapport."
Advert
However, she summed Trump's 'attribution' face as one showing 'stubborn firmness' and 'superior power', comparing him to a boxer flexing before a bout.
She added that the US President gave nothing away in front of cameras, even having a 'grim poker face'.
Apparently, Trump did some 'power-flexes' and disregarded Putin's smile to establish 'spatial control'.
"His gesture to Putin to sit is an ill-mannered and offhand-looking afterthought and he sits in his classic alpha pose with his hands in a downward power steeple. Once the initial status balance has been established though, Trump becomes instantly more friendly and amicable," James pointed out.
Advert
While Trump gave off a 'mouth-shrug smile', Putin didn't feel the need to show any ice-breaking facial expressions, according to the expert.
In fact, Putin came across 'relaxed and slightly amused.
James even claimed that the ex-KGB operative studied Trump's body language, preparing for it and coming across as firm, to the point of being prepared for the US leader's 'shake and yank' handshake.
She concluded: "Overall then, Trump has previously shown a tendency with Putin to be grim-faced and cool to establish some power points at the start and then leak out signals of rapport.
"But Putin can also play a forensic body language game too and his skills always appear to be the more finely-honed and nuanced."
Topics: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Politics, US News
Joshua Nair