US President Donald Trump let his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ‘take the dominant position’ in a handshake initiating their summit on Ukraine, a body language expert said.
Trump stood on a red carpet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday with his right palm up and extended with Putin walking up to him still two arm lengths away.
With that gesture, Trump signaled he was unarmed and offered friendship, body language expert Susan Constantine told Metro.
‘I am putting my palm up allowing you to take the dominant position,’ Constantine explained.
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‘But then what Trump does is he pulls him toward him, so now he’s in his playing field.’
She noted that ‘Putin stays in his same position, in his solid ground, so he doesn’t lean in and holds his position’.
Though Trump allowed Putin to take the top position in the handshake, it does not mean he was ceding control, said Constantine, who is certified in the Facial Action Coding System.
‘When he is allowing Putin to come in and take top position, it’s different than submission,’ she said.
‘That is not because I am putting myself in a passive position that I’m doing that, it is because I want you to feel unarmed.’
Overall, Constantine said the two leaders looked to have a good rapport and were not trying to overshadow each other.
‘I wouldn’t say that one was dominate more than the other, really,’ she said.
‘They were two powers of equal strength.’
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