Trump promises 'double state dinner' in his White House

In Donald Trump's White House, at least at first, there will be no state dinners honoring heads of state as long as the United States is operating at a trade deficit, he declared on Monday. But when the U.S. starts making money again, there will be double the dinners.

When Xi Jinping visited Washington last September, Trump remarked that he would rather serve the Chinese leader a Big Mac rather than the "Grilled Cannon of Colorado Lamb with Garlic Fried Milk and Baby Broccoli" that was one item on the White House menu.


At a campaign rally on Monday in Salem, New Hampshire, the Republican real-estate mogul upped the ante with his usual lines about being a seasoned dealmaker.

“And then Obama gives a big party, a state dinner for the head of China, they probably don’t even talk about it," he lamented.

"It’s going to be different, folks. It’s going to be different. We’re not going to have state dinners," he said, before quickly qualifying. "I’ll have state dinners — when we break even I’ll have a state dinner, and when we start making money, I’ll have a double state dinner.”