President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 will be the first of its kind to boast foreign heads of state as attendees.
Trump broke with more than a century and a half of tradition to invite a wide array of national leaders and political figures to the inauguration, making the occasion historic not only for Trump, but for the guests as well.
No foreign head of state has attended the U.S. presidential inauguration since at least 1874, when the State Department began recording such things.
Trump has invited a wide array of guests, though some have elected to send proxies in their stead and others have been prevented from attending due to extenuating circumstances.
As Andrew Thornebrooke reports for The Epoch Times, aside from some heads of state and senior foreign dignitaries, the inauguration is slated to be a veritable who’s who of conservative populist leaders from across Europe, who have commonly championed the causes of economic vitality, border security, and traditional culture.
Here’s a look at the foreign leaders and political personalities expected to be in attendance:
Javier Milei, President of Argentina
Milei has made a name for himself among thought leaders for his relentless campaign to cut government spending, eliminate regulations, and pare back the country’s administrative state.
He came to the presidency at a time when Argentina had spent nearly a decade and a half in a deficit, was wracked by a poverty rate above 40 percent, and burdened with an annual inflation that eventually pushed to nearly 300 percent.
Milei has since eliminated 10 of Argentina’s 18 government ministries, capped the salaries of top bureaucrats, and fired 34,000 public employees, cutting government spending by 30 percent. As of Jan. 17, the nation is entering its first year of budget surplus in 14 years.
A political outsider, Milei has found common cause with Trump in both style and substance, and was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump following the president-elect’s victory in November.
Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy
Meloni is widely seen as a key mediator between Europe and Trump and shares many policy priorities with the president-elect including a desire to lower taxes, halt illegal immigration, and cut bureaucracy.
A former firebrand turned reformer, Meloni cemented Italy’s strength on the world stage in 2023 when she pulled the nation out of China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative, which has been widely criticized for setting debt traps for participating nations and exerting political influence through the regime’s investments.
Han Zheng, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China
Trump initially invited Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head Xi Jinping to the inauguration in an opening diplomatic gesture between the two rivals.
Xi declined to attend in person but elected to send Han as his envoy.
Han now serves in a largely symbolic role within the Chinese regime, but previously occupied several high-profile positions within the CCP, including on the regime’s Politburo Standing Committee.
During his time as a vice premier, Han was also instrumental in shaping the response of the regime to the unfolding pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which ended with the passage of an authoritarian national security law, the mass arrest of political opponents, increased censorship, and an effective erosion of democratic norms in the territory.
Takeshi Iwaya, Foreign Minister of Japan
Iwaya previously served as Japan’s defense minister during the first Trump administration and will be the first Japanese cabinet member to ever attend the swearing-in of a U.S. president.
The minister is also expected to participate in security talks the day after the inauguration with representatives from the member states of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
The meeting will likely serve to maintain continuity in security cooperation between the nations amid ongoing tensions with communist China and North Korea.
Earlier in the month, Iwaya also traveled to U.S. allies South Korea and the Philippines to discuss similar security coordination.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India
Jaishankar previously served as foreign minister and ambassador to both the United States and China before becoming external affairs minister.
As India’s foreign minister, he has pushed back on China’s undermining of Indian markets and imbalanced trade practices.
He was also central to developing a deal with the first Trump administration to allow for the sharing of sensitive information and intelligence between the two nations, including access to India’s nautical, aeronautical, and geospatial data, a move that was subsequently condemned by the Chinese Communist Party.
Sarah Knafo, Member of the European Parliament for France
The sole member of France’s conservative Reconquete party in the European Parliament, Knafo has worked to support the president-elect’s return to the White House while also championing limits on immigration from Africa and the Middle East in France.
She is the partner of Eric Zemmour, who will also be in attendance.
Eric Zemmour, President of France’s Reconquete Party
A former journalist and one-time presidential candidate, Zemmour has led the Reconquete party since its founding.
In his current role, Zemmour has pushed for increased border security and clampdowns on illegal immigration, as well as curbs on radical Islamic ideology within France. He has also sought to balance the pan-European movement with a more traditional nationalism, saying that he believes France should remain in the European Union but that its own interests must be met first.
Nigel Farage, Leader of the United Kingdom’s Reform UK Party
Formerly the leader of the UK’s UK Independence Party and orchestrator of Brexit, Farage has also pushed against mass immigration into the UK and sought to eliminate the teaching of transgender ideology in primary schools.
Farage first came to support Trump on the campaign trail in 2016, shortly after securing a victory for Brexit. The two have since supported one another’s apparent focus on national pride and ability to act in the face of overwhelming state and media scrutiny.
Tom Van Grieken, Chairman of Belgium’s Vlaams Belang Party
Van Grieken has led the Flemish independence Vlaams Belang party to an all-time high in public support and has publicly defended Trump on multiple occasions against what he termed European media bias against the president-elect.
Tino Chrupalla, Co-Chair of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party
Chrupalla has helped to lead the AfD since 2021, pushing for policies to curb the flow of predominantly Muslim immigrants into Germany and to initiate mass deportations.
The party recently earned an endorsement from American entrepreneur Elon Musk and appears to be positioning itself as an alternative point of contact in German politics for the incoming administration.
Santiago Abascal, President of Spain’s Vox Party
Abascal helped to lead Vox to its first Parliament seats in 2019 on a platform that called for better border security, the strengthening of a unified Spanish culture, and a focus on traditional Catholic values.
Vox, under Abascal, has publicly supported Trump and his policies during his first term, the 2020 election, and the 2024 election.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/here-are-foreign-leaders-and-politicians-attending-trumps-inauguration
