President Trump presented Chinese leader Xi Jinping with a custom bald eagle statue at a White House state dinner, framing the gift as a symbol of American friendship and freedom.
On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, during Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Washington, President Trump used an evening state dinner in the East Room to hand the Chinese president a custom-made bald eagle statue crafted by an American artist.
Breitbart News reported that Trump announced the gift before senior officials and prominent U.S. business and technology leaders, tying the statue directly to the national symbol of the United States.
Trump said the piece was designed in personal collaboration with Melania and himself. He cast the moment in plain terms of goodwill between the two countries.
"In that spirit of friendship, it’s my honor to present President Xi with a gift made by an extraordinary American artist, one of the greatest in the world, and designed in personal collaboration with Melania and myself,"
Trump told the room the bald eagle stands for more than ceremony.
"The bald eagle is a national symbol of the United States and an embodiment of the free and soaring spirit of America, and we hope it will find a nice place, a wonderful place in Beijing,"
He added that he hoped the statue would be displayed in China’s capital.
After the gift announcement, Trump turned the evening toward a White House project still underway. He invited guests, including Xi and Madame Peng, to see the ballroom under construction.
He pointed them through a curtain at the back of the room and described the site as lit up and ready for a first look.
"As a special treat in honor of President Xi and Madame Peng, I’d like to invite everyone in the room to visit through that beautiful curtain in the back door,"
Trump said the space “looks beautiful” and that the dinner guests would be the first to step onto it. He offered the walk-through after the night’s entertainment for anyone willing to enter a construction site he called “nice and clean and sparkling.”
The invitation doubled as a public showcase of ongoing work at the White House during a high-profile state visit.
Before the dinner, Trump and Xi held talks at the White House. The discussions covered U.S.-China issues that included trade, technology, and artificial intelligence.
Xi described the exchanges as productive. He said the two sides had held “sincere and in-depth exchanges” and reached a common understanding on several issues.
The information provided does not list the specific items of that understanding, the full roster of attending officials, or the name of the artist who made the statue. What it does show is a formal state visit built around direct talks, a state dinner, a personal gift carrying America’s national emblem, and an open invitation to view White House construction.
Trump’s choice of gift was deliberate: the bald eagle, made in America, designed with Melania’s input, and offered with an explicit hope it would sit in Beijing. That is how the evening was framed from the podium.
When an American president puts the country’s own symbol in a foreign leader’s hands and calls it friendship, the message is strength paired with clear national identity, not apology.
