Here’s one way to get the upper hand on President Trump.
Body language experts have some advice for Chinese President Xi Jinping before he shakes hands with Trump — known for forcefully and sometimes awkwardly gripping fellow world leaders — during the upcoming G20 summit in July.
If Xi wants to avoid the awkwardness, he needs to use Trump’s move first.
“When shaking hands with Trump, Xi can stand to the left of Trump, reach out his right hand first with palm upward, pat Trump’s hand three times and stop the handshake first,” Cambodian non-verbal communication professor Dr. Leow Chee Seng told the South China Morning Post.
The president shared a painfully long, 17-second shake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month, twisting the Japanese leader’s mitt and twice giving him a series of pats on the back of the hand.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau avoided some of the awkwardness by bracing himself on Trump’s shoulder during their meeting on Feb. 13.