President Donald Trump met with Chinese language President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday for tariff negotiations the U.S. president later rated a “12” on a scale of 1 to 10.
Nonetheless, the handshakes between the leaders sparked a separate dialog when Fox Information’ Michelle Backus gushed that the alternate demonstrated Trump’s “management” of the scenario.
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“And you may see the way in which he’s shaking his hand, President Trump has management of that room, and I’ve lots of confidence on this assembly,” Backus stated.
Although critics discovered this fawning to be a bit a lot, it did elevate the query of what physique language may really say concerning the dynamics between the 2 males. HuffPost spoke with physique language specialists to raised perceive what may need been occurring through the elements of their dialog we may see — and their responses have been telling.
President Donald Trump met with Chinese language President Xi Jinping, and their greeting and parting stood out to physique language specialists. Getty Photos/Huffpost
Trump is aware of find out how to get the “energy place,” no less than at first.
It’s no secret that wanting highly effective is essential to Trump, and his efforts have been on full show firstly of his assembly with Xi.
For one, Trump obtained himself located on the left, a sought-after “energy place” that offers him the visible “higher hand” in images, as Traci Brown, a physique language skilled and habits analyst, instructed HuffPost.
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“Trump is on the left,” Brown stated. “That’s the ability place, politicians battle for it.”
Trump did have one out-of-character transfer in the beginning that stood out, in accordance toPatti Wooden, a physique language and nonverbal communication skilled and creator of “SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Physique Language, and Charisma.” Whereas he did make the “first motion” of the handshake (which generally demonstrates probably the most energy), the positioning of his arms may inform a special story.
“As a result of I’ve seen him shake arms and analyzed it a whole lot of occasions, within the first greeting, it’s attention-grabbing that Trump turned and put his palm up,” Wooden stated. “Sometimes that’s not his fashion, as a result of that’s supplication: ‘I’ve much less energy, I’m palms up, I’m much less highly effective.’”
Brown additionally notes the “palm up” gesture, noting it could possibly additionally present a “welcoming and a hospitality mindset.”
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Because the alternate went on, Trump continued to make use of extra of the ability strikes which might be acquainted when you sustain together with his typical physique language in a lot of these exchanges: primarily, pulling his counterpart nearer to wherever he desires them (additionally participating in different types of contact) and trying to dictate when the motion each begins and ends.
“Trump reaches in to pat Jinping’s again,” Brown added. “That may be a present of management — Trump may transfer Jinping round if he wished to.”
And that physicality is fairly constant: “Trump does one thing he usually does, he pulls [Xi’s] hand over in entrance of his physique. So he’s taking a dominant motion to drag somewhat than cease and do a standard handshake,” Wooden famous.
“He’s taking his left hand and arm and patting his again. There’s two symbols: Patting could be an affectionate transfer or it could possibly present ‘I’m in cost’ … It turns into one other dominance sign to say, ‘I can hit you, and I can hit you on the world stage.’”
Retaining the hand for a very long time turns into noticeable in these photo-ops, Wooden says, and it’s historically not how these rituals are completed. “Once more, it’s grow to be extra normal for Trump, although sometimes in these conditions of world leaders assembly collectively on the world’s stage, beneath all people’s eye, you don’t have a handshake that turns into a battle maintain.”
The handshake additionally rejects rituals.
Whereas there are various protocols and cultural variations at play, Wooden notes that, sometimes, a handshake is about three to 5 pumps. And it’s tremendous uncommon for the shake to proceed till reporters start asking questions, which is what occurred in Trump and Xi’s alternate.
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“You see that Xi Jinping is prepared for it to finish. A part of what indicators that nonverbally, he’s leaning barely away, each his shoulder and his head are leaning barely away, he’s orienting and responding face-on towards the journalist. Trump is barely oriented towards Xi Jinping and simply holding on,” Wooden stated. “A standard handshake is equal distance between two individuals. However when Trump pulls the hand and holds it in entrance of him, he’s exhibiting, ‘I’m the one in cost, I’ve dominance, I’m going to win.’”
Wooden, who research greeting rituals and their symbolic significance, famous that the ritual of the handshake is historically meant to be a gesture of peace. Actually, it’s meant to exhibit you would not have a weapon in your hand or up your sleeve (that’s what the shaking is for). It’s meant to provoke the start of the “sport” — and to acknowledge the equal footing of the 2 events which might be assembly.
“What Trump is signaling is the antithesis of the traditional handshake, which is equality,” Wooden notes. “It says, ‘We’re each secure right here and we’re each equal right here.’ As an alternative of the ritual, that is: ‘I need to present you that I’m going to win, that I’ve energy and I’m not letting you go.’”
U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for a photograph at a world leaders’ summit on ending the Gaza warfare in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 13, 2025. Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photograph by way of AP
The alternate ends on a less-than-dominant nearer.
Whereas his preliminary dynamic with Xi factors to Trump sustaining his dominance, Wooden notes that the handshake post-negotiation may inform a special story.
“After the negotiation, Trump does one thing that I’ve seen him do extra usually, he whispers within the ear. All of us need to know what he’s saying, however what that does symbolically is that they’ve a secret,” Wooden stated. “We don’t know what’s true, however symbolically, it seems to be to us that Trump is telling him one thing. That they’ve a secret between themselves.”
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Wooden famous that, having analyzed a whole lot of those exchanges, this isn’t inherently bizarre — and sometimes after the ritual of handshakes, leaders will half methods with fun or a joke or a transparent second the place the strain has lifted they usually can revert to being “themselves” once more.
“Sometimes, it’s virtually like two buddies, a laughing response,” Wooden stated, “whereas Trump, in that ending handshake, has a compelled grin.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese language President Xi Jinping shake arms as they depart following a bilateral assembly at Gimhae Air Base on Oct. 30, 2025, in Busan, South Korea. Andrew Harnik by way of Getty Photos
From there, the dominance show additionally begins to lose its energy. One factor to know, Wooden says, is that these types of televised conferences between leaders on the world stage are pretty formalized. There are individuals who temporary all events on protocol and the place they’re meant to go all through the occasion. Additionally they sometimes have time to observe or are on condition that express course.
In Trump’s case, he ended up asking for instructions and ultimately strolling Xi to his automobile.
“Often, they may come all the way down to that impartial level on the backside of the steps and go their separate methods,” Wooden stated. “It’s odd as a result of it will symbolically present much less energy by Trump. To me, that was odd, and it symbolically seemed like he had much less energy as a result of he walked to the automobile and obtained misplaced; he simply didn’t know the place to go.”
“Once more, as a result of I’ve learn so many of those: Often they observe forward of time or are instructed forward of time and keep in mind which method to go. In order that’s odd. I suppose it’s simply essential to say that’s not regular.”
And that whimper of an ending, regardless of all makes an attempt at a bang, is notable from a nonverbal communication perspective, too. Simply because the primacy impact makes first strikes extra memorable, the recency impact places extra give attention to the ultimate transfer, too.
“Now we have the primacy impact, the primary handshake, and the recency impact is the final handshake,” Wooden stated. “He did lots of effort to look highly effective within the preliminary greeting handshake, and he ended up not wanting as highly effective with the ending handshake. The recency impact, the very very last thing you say or do.”
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