US President Trump, before departing for a visit to China, said he hoped the renovation projects at the White House and in Washington, D.C. would be completed in time to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping for a visit before the end of the year.
Trump departed for China on Tuesday afternoon local time and is scheduled to meet with Xi Jinping on Thursday Malaysia time.
Before setting off, Trump told the media at the White House: “Chairman Xi will be coming here before year’s end. It will be an exciting event. I just hope the banquet hall can be finished soon.”
Trump added, “You might want to do another thing. You might want to go take a look at the Reflecting Pool, because it’s under repairs. For the first time since 1922, it will be functioning normally.”
In October last year, Trump ordered the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a huge banquet hall for holding receptions and state banquets. However, the project proceeded without going through the usual complicated review procedures required for changes to Washington’s architectural landscape.
The banquet hall project is considered one of the most ambitious undertakings at the White House in more than a century. Its scale has continued to expand, and the privately funded budget has doubled from $200 million (about 786 million ringgit) to $400 million (about 1.572 billion ringgit).
In March, Trump said the US military plans to build a large integrated facility beneath the new White House banquet hall, equipped with bulletproof glass and anti-drone protection.
On March 31, a US federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt the project until it obtained Congressional authorization. Trump then used the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in late April to once again push for the construction of the huge banquet hall.
Trump also plans to lay a new surface made of “the latest, most advanced fiber material,” in a shade of “American flag blue,” on the stone floor at the bottom of Washington’s famous Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
In April, Trump told reporters that this project was among the renovations Washington, D.C. is undertaking to prepare for the July 4th celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, with an expected cost of about $1.5 million (about 5.89 million ringgit).
The Reflecting Pool was built from 1922 to 1923 and has become an important landmark of the US capital. In 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the edge of the Reflecting Pool.
In January, US Treasury Secretary Baysent stated that Trump and Xi Jinping could meet up to four times this year, and that US-China relations had “reached an excellent state of balance,” with differences unlikely to escalate into a full-scale economic conflict as they did last year.
Trump later revealed after a February phone call with Xi Jinping that he would host Xi at the White House later this year. Xi’s last visit to the US was in 2023.
Before setting off, Trump told the media at the White House: “Chairman Xi will be coming here before year’s end. It will be an exciting event. I just hope the banquet hall can be finished soon.”
Trump added, “You might want to do another thing. You might want to go take a look at the Reflecting Pool, because it’s under repairs. For the first time since 1922, it will be functioning normally.”
In October last year, Trump ordered the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a huge banquet hall for holding receptions and state banquets. However, the project proceeded without going through the usual complicated review procedures required for changes to Washington’s architectural landscape.
The banquet hall project is considered one of the most ambitious undertakings at the White House in more than a century. Its scale has continued to expand, and the privately funded budget has doubled from $200 million (about 786 million ringgit) to $400 million (about 1.572 billion ringgit).
In March, Trump said the US military plans to build a large integrated facility beneath the new White House banquet hall, equipped with bulletproof glass and anti-drone protection.
On March 31, a US federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt the project until it obtained Congressional authorization. Trump then used the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in late April to once again push for the construction of the huge banquet hall.
Trump also plans to lay a new surface made of “the latest, most advanced fiber material,” in a shade of “American flag blue,” on the stone floor at the bottom of Washington’s famous Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
In April, Trump told reporters that this project was among the renovations Washington, D.C. is undertaking to prepare for the July 4th celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, with an expected cost of about $1.5 million (about 5.89 million ringgit).
The Reflecting Pool was built from 1922 to 1923 and has become an important landmark of the US capital. In 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the edge of the Reflecting Pool.
In January, US Treasury Secretary Baysent stated that Trump and Xi Jinping could meet up to four times this year, and that US-China relations had “reached an excellent state of balance,” with differences unlikely to escalate into a full-scale economic conflict as they did last year.
Trump later revealed after a February phone call with Xi Jinping that he would host Xi at the White House later this year. Xi’s last visit to the US was in 2023.