Biden at a fundraising event in California on Tuesday referred to Xi as a "dictator" while claiming the Chinese president was caught by surprise by the US shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this year.
Privately, US officials clarified Biden's statements, smoothing things over with the Chinese by saying that Biden's description of Xi does not reflect the opinion of the Biden administration as a whole, the report said. Officials do not currently see the comment as representing a setback to the progress made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visit to China, the report added.
The officials also said Blinken is used to Biden making off-color remarks and does not feel like the incident will amount to anything.
Some US officials played the comment down by suggesting that the president was speaking generally about dictators and not singling Xi out, according to the report, while others believed Biden's comments were intentionally directed.