RIO DE JANEIRO — President Biden was honored with a front-and-center spot Tuesday in a group photo of G20 leaders in Brazil — after his weeklong tour of South America was dominated by coverage of his position or lack thereof in two prior portraits.
Biden, 81, stood between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — with America’s spot and that of Chinese President Xi Jinping equidistant from their host, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The retiring leader of the world’s most powerful nation reaped negative press coverage after being positioned in the back corner of the APEC conference’s group shot Saturday in Lima, Peru — as Xi took a spot of honor in the front and center — before Biden missed a G20 group shot Monday.
The White House attributed that suspected slight at the APEC gathering of Pacific Rim nations to the fact that leaders were supposed to stand in alphabetical order — blaming two other nations for committing “protocol errors” by being out of order.
Then-President Donald Trump, by contrast, stood in the center of two group photos at APEC’s 2017 conference in Vietnam, the only such forum he attended during his first term.
Biden on Monday missed an initial G20 group photo showcasing the chief executives of the world’s top economies — with the White House in that instance blaming “logistical issues” as reporters spotted the president walking nearby moments after other dignitaries clasped hands and smiled.
That group photo featured Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with whom Biden was believed to be reluctant to pose due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Fellow outspoken Kyiv backers Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also missed that photo.
Headlines about the group photos and the symbolism they conveyed gained outsized coverage on Biden’s trip due to the fact that he chose not to take any press questions — aside from giving a single one-word utterance — and he made little news aside from financial pledges that President-elect Trump can rescind after he takes office in two months.
Biden, who turns 82 on Wednesday, has not spoken at all publicly on the trip about Trump’s looming return to power or his decision, first reported Sunday, to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied missiles far inside Russia.
A major theme of the trip was the competing influence of the US and China in Latin America — with the Chinese receiving a more elaborate state visit welcome in Peru as thanks for investing $1.3 billion in a new port in the country.
A separate $3.5 billion rail project aims to connect the port to Brazil’s market.
Biden, meanwhile, pledged $4 billion on Monday to the World Bank’s International Development Association and on Tuesday announced financing to extend high-speed internet to an additional 1 million homes and 4,000 schools in Brazil by 2027.
At prior stops, Biden touted a test-rocket agreement with Peru and pledged $50 million in additional funding for Brazil’s Amazon Fund.
While in Peru, Biden compounded optical issues by visiting Xi at the Chinese leader’s hotel for a meeting, with the White House explaining away that deference by saying the pair have alternated hosting for their three summits.
The US leader departed Lima as spectators waved Chinese flags at his motorcade on its route to the airport.