Donald Trump's extravagant bald eagle gift for Chinese President Xi Jinping has more than one meaning
Donald Trump has an affinity for the extravagant and he certainly wasn't going to let China's President Xi Jinping leave the US without a serious gift.
Whether you love or hate the 80-year-old, there's no doubt that he knows how to be a good host, so long as he can keep his eyes open.
Even when he was the guest of King Charles during a historic royal visit this year, he made sure to bring over some exciting gifts for them to open, while he's also handed over a golden key to the White House to some illustrious guests, including Cristiano Ronaldo.
But when Xi Jinping and his Chinese officials sat down for a lavish state dinner in Washington earlier this week, they were presented with a golden bald eagle, which actually has a meaning more than the general American obsession with the national bird.
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Trump said during the Thursday dinner that the eagle embodies 'the free and soaring spirit of America', and that's something he would have wanted to emphasise during his talks with Jinping.
Gift-giving can be an understated part of official visits as it's basically a public showing that things between the two countries are still cool, even if talks behind doors can become quite heated.
It's of course crucial that China and the US try to stay on the same page, as if the two global superpowers were to butt heads in any sort of war, it could have disastrous consequences for their countries and likely the rest of the world.
Not wanting to be upstaged, Jinping also provided his own gifts to Trump which included two Chinese pandas which will be moved to a zoo in Atlanta, as well as a student exchange programme which will see 100,000 US students travel to study in China over a five-year period.
"The giant panda have been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and the Americans," Xi said. "In a few days, two pandas - Ping Ping and Fu Shuang - will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people."
Ole Jacob Sending from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs told the BBC: "You think about the Trump presidency in that way, I think gift giving, certainly broadly defined, is very much part of how he operates.
"There are a lot of rules and protocols involved. A lot of thought and process relating to what type of gift to to give, where should the gift exchange happen? How should it happen? When?
"All of this is highly scripted, and involves negotiation at lower levels that goes on for weeks and weeks in advance."
So, it's clear that while this gift might just like a fancy golden eagle, it actually has a far greater meaning for the two countries and if that's all it takes to keep these powerhouses in each other's good books, then let's hope there's plenty of golden eagles and Chinese pandas to go around.
Topics: Donald Trump
James Moorhouse