What’s in a handshake? Sometimes a great deal, as leaders around the world have proved time and again.
Usually, it’s the history-making ones that the world remembers — think Nixon and Castro, Kennedy and Khrushchev, Churchill and… anyone, really. You can find all of those here.
However, today’s leaders seem to have lost some of the grace and poise of yesteryear, replacing it instead with awkwardness.
From funny looks to failed handshakes, here’s a roundup of some of the best.
US President Donald Trump treats Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a 19-second handshake, complete with several pats on the hand, when they meet in the Oval Office on February 10, 2017.
Then-US President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto try a three-way handshake when they meet in Ottawa, Ontario, during the North American Leaders Summit on June 29, 2016.
That wasn’t the first tri-handshake Obama had to endure, however. Here he is with then-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott (C) and Abe (R), at a trilateral meeting at the G20 Summit on November 16, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also makes the cut as he meets Obama at the United Nations headquarters on September 28, 2015 in New York City.
Nothing says “Gulf Cooperation” like these smiles, as Obama meets Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2015.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker seems to have found a new confidante in UKIP leader Nigel Farage, seen here in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016.
Meanwhile, in better times, UK Prime Minister David Cameron meets at Downing Street with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on February 27, 2014, but things seem to have gotten off to an awkward start.
Over in France, things are chivalrous between French President François Hollande (L) and then-US Secretary of State John Kerry, seen here at the Elysee Palace on January 16, 2015 in Paris.
On the other side of the world, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe meets Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on August 26, 2014 in Beijing, China.
Then there’s this awkward meeting between then-Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan (R), then-US Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner (L) and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C), on May 24, 2010, in Beijing, China.
Japan and China have a difficult friendship behind closed doors, and sometimes in public too, as Abe shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping (R) on November 10, 2014 in Beijing, China.
Saving the best for last, here’s one that’s both historically important and uncoordinated: Obama meets Cuban President Raul Castro (R) on March 21, 2016,
And in case you didn’t catch it the first time, here’s Obama, Trudeau and Nieto shaking hands again. And again. And again.
