Why Trump gave Xi an ornate bald eagle statue at the state dinner

US President Donald Trump has presented Chinese President Xi Jinping with a sculpture of a bald eagle, a bird native to North America and his country's national symbol, during a lavish state dinner in Washington.

The gift, which was unveiled before VIP guests at the Thursday dinner, embodies "the free and soaring spirit of America", said Trump .

He said that he and First Lady Melania Trump participated in its design. The statue is part of a valuable - but sometimes tricky - aspect of international diplomacy: gift-giving.

Such gifts are a small but meaningful element of the larger aim of Xi and Trump's three-day summit – forging personal relationships between heads of two global superpowers.

"They're going to discuss all of these complicated issues," Daniel Kritenbrink, partner at The Asia Group says. "But at the end of the day, these are still two human beings.

"So that personal relationship means something," he says. "I think the gift exchange is one key part of that."

Kritenbrink, who spent over 30 years as a US diplomat, mostly in Asia, says personal relationships are of particular importance to Xi.

He believes the direct Trump-Xi bond is the glue that is holding together "the most complex and the most consequential relationship in the world".

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