Joe Biden left bumbling on stage as he struggles to pronounce tech firm's name in awkward speech
The president has become well-known for his frequent gaffes whilst speaking publicly
Reuters
Joe Biden struggled to pronounce a tech company’s name whilst speaking to a crowd of CEOs during a conference.
The President fumbled as he tried to read out a list of tech companies as he addressed top bosses at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.
He struggled with the name of one company, before eventually giving up.
The 80-year-old said: “Here in this world, this world-renowned hub of innovation, so many tech companies like Anthropic and…I’m gonna mispronounce.
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“I’m not going to even try. It’s better to not try, and not mispronounce, than try and mispronounce.”
The President smiled as he tried to continue his speech, with audience members laughing over the gaffe.
He continued: “The point is, small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups are getting into action as well.”
The President has become well-known for his frequent gaffes whilst speaking publicly.
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Ahead of his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the APEC, it was speculated that Biden would be reliant on a translator to filter out any “gaffes” during key talks.
Intelligence analyst Kervin AuCoin said the President was likely to rely on his team and avoid extended one-on-one talks with Xi Jinping.
On Wednesday, the President met with China's leader for talks which were tightly scripted.
The summit aimed to calm fears over the US and China drifting toward military conflict in the Indo-Pacific.
President Biden and Xi Jinping held meetings earlier this weekWikiCommonsThe pair agreed to resume military-to-military communication and Jinping said he would crack down on companies producing the ingredients of the drug fentanyl.
However, during a news conference following his private four-hour session with Jinping, the 80-year-old president reiterated his prior assessment that the Chinese leader is a dictator.
Following the meeting with Jinping, he told the summit that the US’s relationship with China was “not all Kumbaya”.
However, he did say the relationship between the two was more “straightforward”.
“We have real differences with Beijing when it comes to maintaining a fair level economic playing field and protecting your intellectual property,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to address them with smart policies and strong diplomacy. We have also taken targeted action to protect our vital national security interest.”