A Special Tribute

Arabella Kushner, the 15-year-old granddaughter of U.S. President Donald Trump and daughter of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, made her debut at a formal state dinner last Thursday, using her Chinese language skills to extend a special greeting to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan. Welcoming the Chinese couple in their native tongue with the words “Welcome to America” during the White House reception, her remarks impressed Xi and Peng, who expressed their delight and remarked on how quickly the young girl had grown since they last saw her. The Chinese president and his wife had last seen Arabella when she was just six years old, during Trump’s first term, when Xi was shown a video of the child wearing a traditional Chinese dress and singing in Mandarin, the language spoken by 70 percent of China’s population. Arabella, the eldest daughter of Ivanka and Jared Kushner, lives in Florida with her parents and her two brothers, Joseph and Theodore. Arabella has long been a star on Chinese social media platforms, since Trump’s first term, when Ivanka posted videos of her singing in Mandarin.