Today, the signifier of giving lavish gifts mostly exists successful Gulf states and autocratic governments.
"Autocracies similar China springiness overmuch much costly gifts," says Morten Skumsrud Anderson, who co-authored a survey connected diplomacy and gifts with Sending.
In the West, Anderson says, the contented has been watered down by antiauthoritarian guardrails and restrictions.
For example, the US Constitution has an emoluments clause that puts a dollar-value bounds connected gifts a president tin person from a overseas government.
Currently, the bounds is $525 (£397). Anything higher and it becomes national property, unless the president chooses to bargain it backmost with his ain money.
Also, erstwhile giving a acquisition beyond a definite amount, a US president would person to spell done Congress, unless helium was paying for it personally.
"There are a batch of rules and protocols involved," Sending says, "A batch of thought and process relating to what benignant of acquisition to to give, wherever should the acquisition speech happen? How should it happen? When?
"All of this is highly scripted, and involves dialog astatine little levels that goes connected for weeks and weeks successful advance," Sending says.
Anderson adds: "This is not a last-minute acquisition astatine the airport."
During Xi's authorities sojourn to the US successful 2013, then-President Barack Obama talented him an inscribed seat made of redwood, autochthonal to California wherever the 2 had met. They sat connected it unneurotic afterwards, smiling for cameras.
It was a much shining illustration than successful 2009, erstwhile then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown talented Obama an ornamental table pen holder made from the timbers of a historical anti-slave ship; portion Obama gave Brown a acceptable of DVDs, which reportedly were not formatted for UK DVD players.
"That's 1 illustration of a benignant of an embarrassing exchange," Sending says.
Fortunately, Brown and Obama were allied leaders and not heavy rivals looking to resoluteness seemingly intractable differences.
"You don't privation to messiness up," Sending says, adding that the incorrect acquisition could perchance derail immoderate larger objectives.
In this case, determination is perchance a batch astatine involvement betwixt Trump and Xi.
Their 3rd face-to-face brushwood since the commencement of Trump's 2nd term, this acme is happening amid increasing fears of an AI-led apocalypse arsenic some countries contention for dominance successful the rapidly increasing industry.
It's besides taking spot successful the aftermath of a bitter US-China commercialized warfare that has lone been resolved by a impermanent truce, extended connected this trip.
So, bash the subject level flyovers, cue the performances, capable the vino the glasses, Kritenbrink says. Exchange the gifts.
"It's protocol and it's optics and it's acquisition giving each arsenic a means to an end, which is unchangeable US-China relations," Kritenbrink says.
"I'll instrumentality a fragile truce implicit a white-hot commercialized warfare immoderate time of the week."
English (US)·