Trump is first US president in decades not to hold showy ceremony during his first year in office

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump will invite the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on the first state visit of the Trump administration, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.

Trump is the first US president in decades to wrap up his opening year without offering a counterpart the honor of a state visit, a diplomatic tool used to impress and showcase ties between allies.

The designation means Macron will be welcomed with a showy arrival ceremony on the White House lawn, including a 21-gun salute, followed by private meetings with Trump and a joint news conference before American and French journalists.

Play Video 0:33 Macron and Trump share a never-ending handshake in Paris – video

Macron will also be the guest of honor at a state dinner, typically attended by hundreds of guests and meticulously planned by the first lady.

Trump was Macron’s special guest at an annual Bastille Day celebration last year that coincided with the 100th anniversary of the US entrance into the first world war. Trump apparently was so inspired by the grand military parade in the heart of Paris that he later called for a similar display of US military hardware in Washington later this year.

CNN first reported on Trump’s plans to invite France’s leader, later confirmed by White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders. A formal announcement, including the date, is pending.

Macron, who is also new to the presidency, and Trump first met last May in Belgium and gripped each other’s hands so tightly during an extended handshake that Trump’s knuckles appeared to turn white.

During the presidential campaign, Trump spoke dismissively of state dinners, a key component of a state visit. In 2015, Trump panned Barack Obama’s decision to welcome the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on a state visit that year.

“I would not be throwing [Xi] a dinner,” Trump said at the time. “I would get him a McDonald’s hamburger and say we’ve got to get down to work.”

Not since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s has a president ended his first year in office without hosting a foreign leader for a state visit, according to the White House Historical Association.