How can Xi Jinping project strength in first handshake with Trump?
Body language experts suggest ways Xi can counter Trump’s meet-and-greet power play
As video clips of US President Donald Trump’s arm-jerking, clasp-patting handshakes with world leaders and his own administration members have gone viral, the diplomatic world is trying to come to grips with a gesture that breaches etiquette and protocol.
This may be an issue Chinese officials are questioning as both sides negotiate a possible meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Trump at the G20 in July – how can China get the upper hand in this mano a mano presidential matchup?
Trump’s forceful handshake belies his desire to take control, experts said, and to show that he is the boss. This should come as no surprise as it the role he is best known for from 14 seasons of his reality show, “The Apprentice”.
US body language coach Patti Wood summed up the tics of the handshake Trump has displayed to the world since becoming president.
“He grabs tightly, jerks the other’s hand towards him, extends the length of time past the normal three second count by not letting go till it seems he feels he has ‘won’ the handshake,” she said. “And patting a hand after you have grabbed and jerked it and not let it go, indicates a desire to further bully the receiver, symbolically saying, with each pat: ‘I hit you. I hit you’.”
