Donald Trump says bald eagle gift to Xi represents "the free and soaring spirit of America"

At a Washington state dinner, President Donald Trump presented Chinese President Xi Jinping with a bald eagle sculpture, a symbol of the United States, saying he and first lady Melania Trump helped design it and describing it as representing an American ideal. The exchange occurred during a three-day summit and came as Xi announced two pandas for Zoo Atlanta plus a program to bring 100,000 American students to China over five years. The meeting took place amid concerns about artificial-intelligence competition and followed a U.S.-China trade war that had only been eased by a temporary truce, extended during the visit. Diplomacy experts cited in the report said that such gifts and leader-to-leader ties can matter in managing the relationship between the two powers, even as officials focus on complex disputes.