President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday will feature multiple heads of foreign governments among the dozens of VIP guests expected to attend, a first in American history.
Most of the world leaders expected, many of them already attending events this weekend in Washington, are from the Spanish-speaking Western Hemisphere and are outspoken anti-communist leaders. They will be accompanied by high-level representatives of other countries that will not be sending their presidents, such as Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
The Associated Press confirmed this weekend that Trump’s will be the first inauguration ceremony attended by any foreign head of state. The swearing-in ceremony is part of a varied, days-long itinerary of events that began on Saturday with a reception for the president, continued with a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Sunday, and on Monday will feature a parade and the traditional inaugural ball.
In between the daytime festivities and the inaugural ball, Trump will have an opportunity to engage in some presidential business. Reports indicate that he is considering signing as many as 200 executive orders on Monday, many to reverse the policies of leftist predecessor Joe Biden. Biden and all other living American presidents – Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush – are expected to attend.
The first world leader to meet with Trump after his electoral victory in November, Argentine President Javier Milei, has been touring Washington throughout the weekend and is expected at the inauguration. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, currently running for reelection amid a chaotic gang war, also reportedly accepted the invitation to attend. Paraguayan President Santiago Peña arrived in Washington, DC, this weekend, as well, stating in an interview that the State Department team led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) Trump has assembled is a “dream come true” for his country.
Trump reportedly invited Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to attend the inauguration; reports remain unclear regarding whether he would attend or not. Bukele has not addressed the invitation in public at press time; he posted a cryptic photo of himself on social media on Sunday night that led to further inconclusive speculation about his attendance.
Outside of Latin America, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, often described as an ideological ally to Trump, has confirmed that she is planning to attend the inauguration.
Reports indicate that President-elect Trump also invited genocidal dictator Xi Jinping to attend the ceremony and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both declined, but Xi sent his vice president, Han, who will be the highest ranking Chinese official in history to attend an American inauguration. Xi also held a phone call with Trump on Friday that the president-elect said was “very good” and would “solve many problems.”
Modi dispatched his top diplomat, Foreign Minister Jaishankar, who was also seen out and about in Washington this weekend meeting with other inauguration guests. Jaishankar held a meeting on Sunday with his Australian and Japanese counterparts, the foreign ministers Penny Wong and Takeshi Iwaya respectively, which he described only vaguely as featuring a “discussion on the state of the world.”
On the guest list but unable to attend is another prominent conservative leader in the Western Hemisphere: Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro and Trump maintained an extraordinarily friendly relationship when both were in office and, Bolsonaro recently noted, share the bond of both surviving assassination attempts.
Bolsonaro is facing several legal cases at home in Brazil that have resulted in the socialist government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seizing his passport, branding him a “flight risk.” Bolsonaro requested a special approval to travel to the United States for the inauguration, noting that he left the country to attend Milei’s inauguration in 2023, but the Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) rejected his requests on the grounds that the email invitation he received was somehow insufficient proof he was invited.
Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a lawmaker in Brazil, is expected to attend the inauguration and spent the weekend meeting with Milei and other conservative leaders in anticipation of the event.
Other prominent conservative leaders from around the world are expected to be in attendance, including longtime Trump ally Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom and the head of the populist Spanish party Vox, Santiago Abascal. Abascal shared an ebullient moment at a pre-inauguration event with Milei, who elbowed through a crowd to embrace him.
Trump ended the last day before his second term in office with what many believe could be his last political rally in Washington, DC – an event to thank supporters and celebrate the electoral victory a final time. In his remarks on Sunday, Trump promised supporters they were “going to have a lot of fun watching television tomorrow” while he repealed “every radical and foolish executive order of the Biden administration … within hours.” He promised a special emphasis on eradicating “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) provisions in the federal government.
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