Donald Trump's Reaction to Xi Jinping Compared to Joe Biden

Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump had different messages after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Biden met with Xi in San Francisco on Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year amid deteriorating relations between the two countries. The leaders aimed to get relations back on track after tensions grew in recent months over the issue of Taiwan, a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the U.S. this year and their opposing stances in the Russia-Ukraine war.

The White House described Biden and Xi's discussion as candid and constructive in a statement released after the meeting, explaining the two discussed a range of bilateral and global issues, including areas of potential cooperation and exchanged views on areas of difference.

Biden, however, still had harsh words for Xi in a press conference after the discussion when a reporter asked if he believes the Chinese president is a dictator.

"Well look, he is. I mean, he's a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different from ours," Biden said. "Anyway, we made great progress."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to his comments, saying, "Such a remark is extremely wrong and is irresponsible political manipulation."

"It needs to be pointed out that there have always been people with ill intentions who try to sow discord and undermine the China-U.S. relations," she said, the Associated Press reported.

What Did Trump Say About Xi Meetings?

Biden's comments were notably different from those of Trump, who offered praise for Xi after meeting with him at several points in 2017 and 2019.

Trump offered substantial praise for Xi after they met in November 2017 to discuss issues such as trade, drug control and North Korea. Trump described the meeting as "tremendous" and said his feeling toward Xi is "an incredibly warm one."

"As we said, there's great chemistry, and I think we're going to do tremendous things, both for China and the United States," Trump said.

His praise for Xi continued for years, as he described a June 2019 meeting him as excellent. He also offered praise for Xi following a meeting in December of that year.

In August 2019, Trump called Xi a brilliant leader and great man at the G7 summit.

"Had a very good talk with President Xi of China concerning our giant Trade Deal," Trump wrote in a post to X, then known as Twitter, on December 20, 2019. "China has already started large scale purchases of agricultural product & more. Formal signing being arranged. Also talked about North Korea, where we are working with China, & Hong Kong [progress!]."

Trump also offered praise for Xi during remarks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday while attacking Biden.

"He's like a piece of steel, strong, smart," he said in a video posted to social media. "There's nobody in Hollywood who could play the role."

Newsweek reached out to the White House and Trump campaign via email for comment.