The White House has confirmed that Donald Trump drank wine and craft beer at the dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, despite being briefed on the president’s travel plans earlier this week.
“President Trump drank at a dinner last night with President Xi,” said White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a statement.
“The president had a couple of glasses of wine and he also had a few craft beers.”
But the statement went on to say that Trump “lacked any alcohol whatsoever during his meeting with President Jinping”.
Trump’s dinner with Xi is a key component of the President’s strategy to improve ties with China, which is one of his key foreign policy priorities.
It comes at a time when the US president is also facing pressure over alleged ties between his administration and Russia.
The dinner, which took place on the second night of a four-day summit, was attended by US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
It also saw the two countries formally sign the Paris Climate Accord, which would require nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.
During the dinner, Trump also reportedly asked for Chinese President Jiaying to give him a list of “special guests” who he thought would be able to help boost his agenda, according to the Washington Post.
“I asked him who those people were, and he said, ‘It’s really hard to name them because they don’t know me,'” Trump told the paper.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia, and has repeatedly denied having any improper dealings with Moscow.
He also has insisted he did not discuss sanctions with the Russian president, telling Fox News: “I didn’t have any conversations with him about that.”