SINGAPORE: The irony of a White House press secretary wearing what appears to be a Chinese-made outfit has not been lost on eagle-eyed netizens in China, who took to social media to call out the “hypocrisy” amid US President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war.
On Wednesday (Apr 16), images of White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt went viral on Chinese social media platforms like the Sina Weibo microblogging site and Xiaohongshu.
Leavitt, said to have been speaking at a recent White House briefing, was identified in a red dress with black lace trimmings that reportedly came from UK brand Self-Portrait, designed by Malaysian Chinese fashion designer Han Chong and manufactured in China.
The claim first appeared in a tweet by Zhang Zhisheng, China’s consul-general in Denpasar, Indonesia – and backlash that followed was swift.
“Accusing China is business. Buying China is life,” Zhang wrote in a post on X that was reshared more than 700 times, also sharing multiple screenshots and photos.
Zhang also said the black lace trimmings on the dress were recognised by a factory employee “as its product”.
“Hypocrites exposed. It’s actually very funny,” said one user commenting under Zhang’s post.
“The jokes write themselves,” wrote another user.
