Trump took Xi on ballroom tour: White House

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump took Chinese President Xi Jinping and other state dinner guests on a tour of the construction site of his new ballroom, the White House said Friday.

Trump suddenly announced that he was "going off" during Thursday's banquet and wanted to show off the US$400 million project being built next door.

"As a special treat in honour of President Xi and Madam Peng, I'd like to invite everyone in the room to visit through that beautiful curtain in the back," Trump told guests.

"It's one year away from completion of the new ballroom that you've heard about, and you will see something that I think you will really love."

Journalists were then led out of the dinner, but a White House official told AFP they "can confirm they took a tour," when asked if Trump had later taken Xi and other guests to see the ballroom.

The New York Post reported that access involved stepping out of the doors of the East Room where the dinner took place, then walking along a red carpet to a stand where they could inspect the ballroom site.

Guests at the dinner also included top tech CEOs such as Tesla's Elon Musk and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg.

The tour of one of the most sensitive US government sites underscored Trump's efforts to impress Xi on a lavish state visit aimed at smoothing tensions between the two superpowers.

Trump has previously dubbed it the "greatest military-complex-slash-ballroom anywhere in the world" because it will have six floors of sensitive underground sites and a drone port on the roof.

He has repeatedly invoked national security to bat away questions about planning permission and the cost of the ballroom and other sites.

The US president had earlier shown Xi the outside of the ballroom while giving the Chinese president a tour of the new White House helipad, during which he also took Xi aboard his helicopter, Marine One.--AFP