Presidential walk of fame

During the second day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's three-day state visit to Washington, US President Donald Trump guided his counterpart along the colonnade of the West Wing. The tour focused on the Presidential Walk of Fame, a portrait gallery installed by Trump roughly one year earlier featuring past American leaders in gold frames. After pointing out two distinct portraits of himself marking his non-consecutive terms, Trump directed Xi toward the frame reserved for his predecessor, Joe Biden. Instead of a portrait, the display contains a photograph of an autopen, a mechanical device used to replicate signatures.

Trump patted Xi on the arm as he gestured toward the frame, prompting laughter from the Chinese leader and his delegation.

“That is the autopen, that is Biden!”

The White House later distributed video footage of the exchange on the social media platform X. Trump also showed Xi a framed photograph from their meeting in Beijing in May, noting it had remained on the wall for a year as a mark of respect.

Autopen controversy and historical use

The plaque positioned below the autopen photo describes Biden as by far the worst president in American history, adding that he took office in January 2021 after the most corrupt elections ever held in the country. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Biden experienced cognitive decline during his presidency and that administrative aides used automated signing machines to enact decisions and pardons without presidential knowledge. Biden previously rejected those assertions, explaining that the autopen served as a logistical tool for handling large volumes of routine paperwork and that late-term presidential pardons received direct oral approval.

The mechanical signing of presidential paperwork has a documented history within executive operations.

Mechanized signature tools were adopted in the 1950s under Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 2005, the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush determined that autopen signatures meet constitutional requirements, ruling that the president does not need to physically hold the pen. In 2011, Barack Obama became the first president to sign an act of Congress into law using the device. Trump maintains that he reserves automated signatures strictly for secondary correspondence while executing primary official documents by hand.

White House renovations and banquet

The guided walk also encompassed structural modifications across the White House grounds, including a newly installed helicopter landing pad on the lawn. On Thursday evening, Trump hosted a state banquet in honor of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, where he announced that guests would be given access to the construction site of a new White House ballroom.

“As a special gift in honor of President Xi and Madame Peng, I would like to invite everyone in this room to come and take a tour.”

Trump stated that the new building will be completed within a year. While initially presented as a ballroom, Trump also described the building as a military complex equipped with drones and defensive systems intended to protect the capital, answering critics who have questioned the transparency of the project's financing.

Summit context and bilateral agenda

Xi's trip to Washington represents his first state visit to the American capital in 11 years, following 90 minutes of bilateral talks held in the Oval Office earlier on Thursday. Between 2021 and 2025, Xi met with Biden on three separate occasions during a period of sustained geopolitical rivalry. The discussions in Washington addressed economic tariffs, unchecked artificial intelligence systems, the status of Taiwan, and Chinese trade ties with Iran.