Newsman: President Donald Trump is back in the United States from the longest foreign trip to Asia, first in his nine months in office. Leaders abroad lavished him with gifts and the royal treatment during his whirlwind, three-country tour around Asia. Asian leaders put on a master class in hospitality and flattery as they hosted US President Donald Trump this week, with one eye on securing vital trade deals to boost economic growth.
When Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One after the meeting, he called Xi “a great leader, a leader of a very powerful, a very strong country.”
Gifts and flattery flowed freely throughout Trump’s five-day Asia tour. Malaysia rolled out a red carpet and teed up a ceasefire deal. Japan offered up a golf club used by Shinzo Abe, Trump’s golfing buddy and the country’s late leader, as well as 250 cherry blossom trees to spruce up the nation’s capital. South Korea gave Trump a replica gold crown from an ancient dynasty – a gift, they said, befitting a man of commanding authority and peacemaking prowess.
There were honor guard presentations in royal halls, military fanfare and pageantry. A South Korean military brass band played the Village People’s “YMCA” – a Trump rally standard. A banquet later featured beef patties with ketchup, one of the president’s favorite meals, and a seafood salad that, Korean officials told reporters, was a tribute to Trump’s business success in New York. (One morning on the trip, when I checked luggage for Air Force One, a government official asked me if I was dropping off a personal suitcase or official gifts.)
In return, Trump offered those countries’ leaders validation from the world’s most powerful nation. He heaped praise on newly installed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, predicting she would soon be recognized as one of that nation’s greatest leaders of all time. That’s even though she has barely started working and sits atop an untested political coalition so narrow and so fragile it almost didn’t come together – and could collapse at any minute.
During his whistle-stop tour of Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, Trump was lavished with praise and showered with gifts including a golf putter and bag, a replica of a historical golden crown and South Korea’s highest civilian honor – as leaders sought to smooth complicated bilateral discussions.
US President Donald Trump is presented with the Grand Order of Mugunghwa and the Silla gold crown by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the Gyeongju National Museum, Gyeongju, South Korea, on Wednesday.
Trump departed Asia on Friday, leaving behind some happy hosts, including Japan, which signed trade and minerals deals, and South Korea, which received US approval for a long-held wish to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
In Malaysia: The president kicked off his Asia tour in Malaysia with an impromptu dance on the red carpet to a crowd of onlookers waving and dancing. The serious business of signing the Thailand-Cambodia peace agreement also took on a lighter mood as Southeast Asian leaders used the moment to heap praise on Trump, with some gentle ribbing.
In Japan: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, just days into the role, played into Trump’s personal friendship with her predecessor and mentors the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi presented US President Donald Trump a putter owned by late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a golf bag signed by Hideki Matsuyama and a gold leaf golf ball in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday.
Japan’s gift to Trump included Abe’s putter and a gold-leafed golf ball, as well as a golf bag signed by Japanese golfing hero Hideki Matsuyama.
The two leaders dined on American beef and rice — a possible gesture to win favor with Trump in a country where rice is part of the national identity. Takaichi topped the visit by saying she had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In South Korea: Upon arrival, Trump was greeted by a military band playing “YMCA,” the Village People classic that’s become a rallying cry of sorts for the president and his political movement.
President Lee Jae Myung, who wore a custom-made gold tie, gifted Trump a replica of a historic golden crown. And Trump became the first US president to be awarded the grand order of Mugunghwa, South Korea’s highest civilian honor.
President Trump was treated to a “gold-themed dessert” during his working lunch with Lee, consisting of gold-adorned brownies and tangerines.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gestures as President Donald Trump delivers a speech in front of US Navy personnel on board the USS George Washington aircraft carrier at the US naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, on Tuesday.
Economies dampened: Trump’s tariff offensive this year has roiled Washington’s relations with countries worldwide, including longtime US allies Japan and South Korea. Adding to the strain are the massive investment pledges — $550 billion from Tokyo and $350 billion from Seoul — agreed upon to help secure the tariff reduction.
