Vicious weapons and a golden crown: some of Trump’s favorite things in Asia

Thousands of miles away from the country he leads, where a “No Kings” movement against his presidency appears to be growing, Trump was treated like one for nearly a week.

Trump is an unconventional president in just about all of the ways but one: Like his predecessors, he used the occasion of an overseas trip as an energy and ego boost, an escape during a time of tumult at home. And the leaders of several countries appeared to understand how to celebrate him: thumping drums, golf clubs, medals, little beef patties with ketchup.

“Driving up in the Beast, the limo, with those very powerful people carrying very vicious-looking weapons, it was something,” Trump said after he was received with an elaborate ceremony of drummers and sword-baring soldiers in South Korea. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like that.”

His journey through Malaysia, Japan and South Korea — capped by a meeting with Xi Jinping of China at the end — was not all about gold and red meat. Trump came to Asia to be a statesman and a showman and a traveling salesman, depending on the audience.

At a speech to Asian leaders in Gyeongju, South Korea, Trump said his administration was open for business, and that it would cut through the red tape in exchange for foreign investment. “We’re sort of cleaning up the books,” he said.

Trump, a former real estate developer with a transactional view of the world, made some deals on the trip. Some were commitments to spend more money on American companies. Others were the result of Trump lowering the high tariff rates he had threatened against Japan, South Korea and China, netting concessions, and calling it a win.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way home, Trump seemed relieved to have reached an agreement for China to suspend the rollout of restrictions on rare earths, the materials that make up everything from computers to fighter jets.

“China, that whole situation, that roadblock is gone now, there’s no roadblock at all on rare earth,” Trump said. “It will hopefully disappear from our vocabulary.”

But in truth, there were few announcements that had not been already made before.

At times, host governments played to Trump’s desire to close peace deals. During the ceremonial signing of a pact between Cambodia and Thailand, the Cambodian prime minister said he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was clear throughout the trip that Trump and his staff were finding moments to soak in a friendly landscape in countries where leaders seemed to admire — if not outright embrace — his hard-right policies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on hand Sunday when Qatar’s emir and prime minister visited Air Force One during a refueling stop. In the conference room aboard the presidential aircraft, where a UFC fight was on view in the background, the Middle Eastern leaders said they couldn’t possibly be in the same country as Trump without saying hello.

As the president flew to Japan, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined him for a briefing to reporters.

“Where is he?” Trump said, summoning the secretary. “He’s right here, the handsome guy behind me.”

After Bessent listed topics — tariffs, trade and agriculture that he had negotiated with his Chinese counterparts before Trump’s meeting with Xi, the president proclaimed: “We feel good.”

Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, smiled and posed for photos at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, posted views of the Tokyo skyline to her Instagram account. Trump had a stack of overseas newspapers delivered to the press cabin of Air Force One so the journalists traveling with him could see the “tremendous” coverage, Leavitt said.

It all put Trump in a magnanimous mood throughout the trip. His feud with Canada over the contents of a television ad seemed to be a distant memory in Gyeongju, when he sat across a dinner table from Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada. Trump smiled and told Carney and a group of leaders about a long-past trip to New Zealand and later said he had a “very nice conversation” with the Canadian leader.

The president landed back on U.S. soil on Thursday afternoon. Trump traveled down the steps of Air Force One, climbed into his motorcade, and steered back into partisan gridlock and a government shutdown.

Memories remain. As the president’s motorcade departed, aides struggled to get a heavy box wrapped in gold fabric down the back stairs of Air Force One. It was about the size of the box that held his new crown.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.