U.S. Officials Discard China-Issued Burner Phones, Badges and Pins Before Boarding Air Force One

U.S. officials left Beijing on Friday after two days of high-level talks with the Chinese government led by President Xi Jinping. Before boarding Air Force One, White House staffers and reporters had to surrender various items collected during the trip.

Those items included staff burner phones, credential badges and lapel pins issued by China. Travelers on Air Force One threw the objects in a bin at the bottom of the plane’s stairs. The order to discard the items was witnessed and reported by a journalist in the White House press pool.

“Nothing from China allowed on the plane,” Emily Goodin, the White House correspondent for the New York Post, wrote on X. U.S. government delegation wearing pins on their coat lapels.

Those pictured wearing the lapel pins included President Trump, White House communications director Steven Cheung, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Secret Service agents. @techcrunch reported that Goodin did not explain the reason for the order. Spokespeople for The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The article detailing the events was posted at 8:42 AM PDT on May 15, 2026. It carries the byline of Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai with image credit to Alex Wong / Getty Images.