 "From golden crown to Nobel nomination: Are accolades the key to diplomacy with Trump?")
Flattery will get you nowhere is an old phrase. But it clearly doesn’t apply to Donald Trump.
The US President is currently on a week-long trip to Asia where he is being feted and showered with gifts.
Call it the art of making Trump happy without ceding much. The US President is currently in South Korea where he met President Lee Jae-myung.
This comes after Trump earlier this week went to Malaysia – where he attended the 47th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), met Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and made some trade deals and frameworks with the governments of Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam – and Japan.
Trump is slated to meet President Xi Jinping before heading home to the United States.
But how are the leaders of these countries wooing Trump?
Let’s take a closer look.
Gold-leaf golf ball
Trump, who met Japan’s new leader Sanae Takaichi for the first time, was given a gold-leaf golf ball and a club used by former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe. Trump and Takaichi, who has been in office for less than two weeks, earlier spoke over the phone.
“He was a great friend of mine and a great friend of yours,” Trump told Takaichi, whom he had earlier described as “great, beautiful and very friendly.”
Trump and Abe, the first foreign leader to meet the US President in 2016, were famously golfing buddies and the two men shared a close rapport before his assassination in 2022. Trump has frequently expressed sadness at the death of Abe, who was a mentor to Takaichi. The current Japanese President had served in Abe’s Cabinet during his first term and then as Home Minister in his second term. Abe had previously presented Trump with a golden golf club after his surprise victory in the 2016 election.
Trump was also gifted a golf bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama. Trump is an avid golfer who owns over a dozen courses across the world, including in America, Scotland, the UAE and Ireland.
Japan has also said it will donate 250 cherry trees to Washington DC ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary, as well as fireworks produced in Akita Prefecture for the upcoming celebrations. Japan’s cherry trees are famed all across the world. Of the millions of people who flock to Japan every year, many visit the cherry trees.
Trump earlier this year received a golden samurai helmet, also known as the “Eternal Helmet”, from Japan’s then Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Mark Davidson, a former senior US diplomat in Japan who teaches politics at Temple University in Tokyo, said it was a smart move for Takaichi to invoke Abe’s memory.
“With President Trump, all politics is personal,” Davidson said. “He had a very close, warm and trusting relationship with Prime Minister Abe. I think that Prime Minister Takaichi’s close ties with late Prime Minister Abe set up this relationship for success.”
Nobel Peace Prize nomination by Japan
The White House has also said that Takaichi will nominate US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Prize. Takaichi, who hailed the “golden age of ties” during Trump’s visit, said, “Mr President succeeded in securing a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia… also, the deal you have recently achieved in the Middle East is an unprecedented, historic achievement.” Takaichi said she was “personally inspired” by Trump.
Trump and his administration had waged an all-out campaign for the honour this year, even going as far as to call him the “peace president.” Trump has repeatedly claimed to have ended a number of conflicts – which experts have disputed. The prize was eventually given to Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado.
Japan is hardly alone in its endeavour. A number of leaders from other countries have also sought to flatter Trump by nominating him for the Nobel Prize, including Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet, Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, Ian Borg of Malta, Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. However, many of the nominations came after the 31 January 2025 deadline had passed for this year – meaning that Trump is eligible for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump has been obsessed with the honour ever since it was awarded to his predecessor, then-President Barack Obama, in 2009. The only other US President to win the prize is Jimmy Carter.
Replica gold crown, Grand Order in South Korea
In South Korea, Trump was given a replica of a historic golden crown by President Lee.
It is a replica of the golden Cheonmachong crown, which was found in a tomb in Gyeongju. It is an imitation of the crown of the ancient Silla Kingdom, which dominated the Korean Peninsula. It symbolises the “sacred authority and absolute rule” of kings.
The replica features towering gold prongs and dangling leaf shapes. The original crown is embroidered with a tree with branches heading skywards, signifying the king’s heavenly mandate, as well as animals.
South Korea’s presidential office said the gift “symbolises the history of Silla, which maintained a long-term era of peace on the Korean Peninsula, and a new era of peaceful coexistence and common growth on the Korean Peninsula that the United States and South Korea will work together for.”
Trump has also become the first US President to receive the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, South Korea’s highest order. The prize is named after South Korea’s national flower, a pink hibiscus also known as the Rose of Sharon in English.
The country has said that this is to acknowledge his previous diplomatic efforts as a peacemaker between North and South Korea. The honour is usually bestowed on Presidents of South Korea; however, it can also be given to leaders who have helped secure South Korea’s national security. French President Emmanuel Macron was previously awarded the order by ex-President Moon Jae-in.
Trump was presented with the medal by President Lee in the quiet tourist town of Gyeongju. “I would like to wear it right now,” Trump said. He added that he would cherish the “beautiful” gift and that it is a “great honour” to receive it. Lee wore a custom-made gold-coloured tie, which his office said “reflects President Trump’s taste for gold, captures the golden future of the South Korea-US alliance and the status of South Korea.”
The US and South Korea have now struck a deal on details of the trade agreement after the meeting between Trump and Lee. The South Korean President had hoped to win concessions from Trump in drawn-out negotiations aimed at lowering US tariffs on South Korea, and has wooed the US President by praising his outreach to North Korea.
Trump on Xi meet
Trump, addressing businessmen at the APEC Business Leaders Summit, said he was sure he and Xi would come to a good deal. This will be their first meeting since Trump returned to office in January and after he imposed tariffs on America’s trading partners.
Trump has predicted that his meeting with Xi could go for “three, four hours.”
Asked about tariffs, Trump responded, “I expect to be lowering that because I believe that they’re going to help us with the fentanyl situation.”
China has said the meeting will be an “exchange of views on US-China relations and issues of mutual concern.”
With inputs from agencies
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