'America First' Trump loved hanging out with the global elite during his Asia trip

TOKYO (AP) — For an “America First” president, Donald Trump seemed to love his whirlwind five days skipping across Asia — a reflection of a White House that is increasingly focused on the rest of the world.

When Trump stepped off Air Force One on Sunday for his first stop in Malaysia, he danced with local performers who had greeted him on the red carpet. In Japan, he helicoptered to a mammoth aircraft carrier for a speech with the country's prime minister. And South Korea gave him a gold medal and crown as gifts.

Back home in Washington, the federal government was shut down as Trump’s poll numbers remain low, and it's unclear how much Trump's trip will resonate with voters consumed by other concerns at home.

Yet on the last night of his trip, Trump was overheard at a state dinner talking about how much he enjoyed meetings with his foreign counterparts.

“That was a great meeting,” Trump said. “They’re all great meetings. This was a great meeting. We had a fantastic meeting.”

Had a president who once used the term “globalist” as a slur suddenly found the fun in being a little bit globalist? He definitely likes the international deal making, the parties in his honor, the praise from other leaders and the possibility of leaving his mark on the wider world.

The president sees diplomacy as a way to fulfill his domestic agenda of returning manufacturing to America and creating factory jobs, said Carla Sands, who was the U.S. ambassador to Denmark during Trump's first term and is now chair of the foreign policy initiative at the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.

“President Trump is working as fast as possible to reindustrialize America, bring jobs back home, and secure better trade deals for the American people and businesses,” Sands said.

The ebullience abroad also reflects the mood of a president who has struck economic deals and helped smooth relations between warring nations.

He helped to affirm a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand. There’s a detailed list of nearly $500 billion in investment commitments from Japan. And South Korea pledged $150 billion to help revive American shipbuilding, including a project to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine — on top of $200 billion in investments over a decade to the U.S.

“It's not globalism to go to other countries and stand up for America,” said Hogan Gidley, a former White House aide who traveled to Asia and other foreign destinations with Trump in his first term. When Trump travels, he makes sure “the globe is fully aware that this president is going to stand up for the American people first,” Gidley said, making it “the exact opposite of globalism.”

As for the dancing?

“Look, when you're scoring touchdowns, it's OK to dance in the end zone,” Gidley said. “And this president is scoring touchdowns and running up the score.”

Many Trump voters believed they were electing a president who would focus on them instead of distant countries. But Trump in his second term is increasingly finding it easier to sell the idea of America with jaunts to Asia and the Middle East.

The shift in tone reflects foreign governments’ strenuous efforts to keep Trump happy, like stationing American-made vehicles near him in Tokyo and featuring U.S.-raised beef on the menu.

Trump is increasingly showing confidence that he can play on the global stage, instead of grinding metaphorical axes as he did during his first term by attacking NATO and finding ways to intimidate and frustrate allies such as Angela Merkel, then the chancellor of Germany.

“He appears to believe in his skills as a one-on-one negotiator with world leaders,” said Jasen Castillo, a professor with a focus on national security at Texas A&M University. “All of this suggests that his foreign policy ventures are genuine.”

Still, it’s not always clear what Trump is trying to achieve, other than a chance to declare victory. Some of his trade talks have led to foreign countries promising investments, but not necessarily the careful negotiations on which durable coalitions are built.

“What can confuse observers is that he lacks a consistent, coherent world view,” Castillo added.

The U.S. president in Asia was hardly the grimacing presence he’s been at times in the Oval Office, where he’s objected to the support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought in the war against Russia and chastised post-apartheid South Africans on their treatment of white Afrikaners.

In Asia, it was a love fest. Trump said Southeast Asian nations had “spectacular leaders,” the new Japanese prime minister was “a winner,” and the South Korean president could “go down as the greatest of them all.”

Rather than complaining about foreign countries ripping off America, he told business leaders that “the best deals are deals that work for everybody.”

Trump was similarly effusive after sitting down on Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping shortly before returning to Washington.

“I guess on the scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump seems to enjoy doing foreign policy on his own terms. He prizes bold shows of force, like attacking nuclear sites in Iran and boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean. He minimizes participation in lengthy multilateral meetings that can require more listening than talking.

Arriving at the summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Trump offered a spot in the armored presidential limousine to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was thrilled to join him in the vehicle nicknamed “The Beast.”

“When the president arrives, he asked me to join him in the car,” Anwar later recalled in a speech. “I said, ‘That’s against the security and protocol rules,’ and he was delighted to break the rules.”

The White House said that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi planned to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, with Takaichi telling him she was “so impressed and inspired” by Trump’s commitment to world peace and stability.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Trump “will be recognized forever in the history of humanity” if he could bring his peacemaker skills to ending the military standoff with North Korea, before complimenting him for U.S. stock indexes hitting a record high.

Even the far more reserved Xi seemed to suggest that Trump’s policies behind elevating America were also good for China.

“I always believe that China’s development goes hand in hand with your vision to ‘Make America Great Again,’” Xi said through a translator.

While the White House is trumpeting the results of Trump's trip back home, it's unclear how much his foreign policy actions mattered to a country worried about inflation staying high.

Going into the 2025 elections Tuesday with a mayoral race in New York City and governors' elections in Virginia and New Jersey, many Americans are harboring deep anxieties about Trump’s leadership. The monthlong government shutdown is starting to cause pain with missed paychecks and government food aid no longer being available to millions of families.

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Trump told his audiences in Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and South Korea that America has never been better.

“We’re literally sort of an inspiration to a lot of other countries,” Trump said.

Megerian reported from Busan, South Korea, and Kim reported from Washington.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung as they attend a high honor ceremony at the Gyeongju National Museum in Gyoeongju, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives on Air Force One, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., after returning from a trip to Asia. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump toasts with state leaders including South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center right, during a dinner event in Gyeongju, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, shake hands before their U.S.-China summit talk at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. President Donald Trump waves from his official vehicle as he heads to attend the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Hasnoor Hussain/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to dancing performers during a welcoming ceremony after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, to attend the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Hasnoor Hussain/Pool Photo via AP)

A top Border Patrol commander touted dozens of arrests in North Carolina’s largest city on Sunday as Charlotte residents reported encounters with federal immigration agents near churches, apartment complexes and stores.

The Trump administration has made the Democratic city of about 950,000 people its latest target for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and downtrending crime rates.

Gregory Bovino, who led hundreds of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in a similar effort in Chicago, took to X to document a few of the more than 80 arrests he said agents had made. He also posted a highly-edited video of uniformed CBP officers handcuffing people.

“From border towns to the Queen City, our agents go where the mission calls,” he posted on X, referring to Charlotte.

The effort was dubbed “Operation Charlotte’s Web” as a play on the title of a famous children’s book that isn’t about North Carolina.

Some welcomed the intervention, including Mecklenburg County Republican Party Chairman Kyle Kirby, who said in a post Saturday that the county GOP “stands with the rule of law — and with every Charlottean’s safety first.”

The flurry of activity prompted fear and questions, including where detainees would be held, how long the operation would last and what agents' tactics — criticized elsewhere as aggressive and racist — would look like in North Carolina. On Saturday, at least one U.S. citizen said he was thrown to the ground and briefly detained.

At Camino, a nonprofit group that offers services to Latino communities, some said they were too afraid to leave their homes to attend school, medical appointments or work. A dental clinic the group runs had nine cancellations on Friday, spokesperson Paola Garcia said.

“Latinos love this country. They came here to escape socialism and communism, and they’re hard workers and people of faith,” Garcia said. “They love their family, and it’s just so sad to see that this community now has this target on their back.”

Bovino's operations in Chicago and Los Angeles triggered lawsuits over the use of force, including widespread deployment of chemical agents. Democratic leaders in both cities accused agents of inflaming community tensions. Federal agents fatally shot one suburban Chicago man during a traffic stop.

Bovino, head of a Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, and other Trump administration officials have called their tactics appropriate for growing threats on agents.

Bovino posted pictures Sunday of people the Trump administration commonly dubs “criminal illegal aliens,” meaning people living in the U.S. without legal permission who allegedly have criminal records. That included one of a man with an alleged history of drunk driving convictions.

“We arrested him, taking him off the streets of Charlotte so he can’t continue to ignore our laws and drive intoxicated on the same roads you and your loved ones are on,” Bovino said.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, did not respond to inquiries about the Charlotte arrests. Bovino's spokesman did not return a request for comment Sunday.

Elsewhere, DHS has not offered many details about its arrests. In the Chicago area, the agency only provided names and details on a handful of its more than 3,000 arrests in the region from September to last week. U.S. citizens were detained during several operations. Dozens of protesters were arrested.

By Sunday, reports of CBP activity around Charlotte were “overwhelming” and difficult to quantify, Greg Asciutto, executive director of the community development group CharlotteEast, said in an email.

“The past two hours we’ve received countless reports of CBP activity at churches, apartment complexes and a hardware store,” he said.

City council member-elect JD Mazuera Arias said federal agents appeared to be focused on churches and apartment buildings.

“Houses of worship. I mean, that’s just awful,” he said. “These are sanctuaries for people who are looking for hope and faith in dark times like these and who no longer can feel safe because of the gross violation of people’s right to worship.”

Two people were arrested during a small protest Sunday outside a DHS office in Charlotte and taken to a local FBI office, said Xavier T. de Janon, an attorney who was representing them. He said it remained unclear what charges they faced.

DHS said it was focusing on North Carolina because of so-called sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation between local authorities and immigration agents.

Most North Carolina county jail operators have long honored “detainers,” or requests from federal officials to hold an arrested immigrant for a limited time so agents can take custody of them. But some non-cooperation policies have existed in a handful of places in the state, including Charlotte, where the police do not help with immigration enforcement. In Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is located, the sheriff previously did not honor detainers but said the jail now does as required under changes made to state law since last year.

Several county jails house immigrant arrestees and honor detainers, which allow jails to hold detainees for immigration officers to pick them up. But Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is located, does not. Also, the city's police department does not help with immigration enforcement.

DHS alleged that about 1,400 detainers across North Carolina had not been honored, putting the public at risk.

“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

This story has been updated to correct which of North Carolina’s county jail operators honor immigration detainers. Most have long honored detainer requests, and the Mecklenburg County sheriff says his jail also does so now as required under changes made to state law since last year. The story summary also misspelled the federal operation’s name, which is “Charlotte’s Web,” not “Charlotte’s Webb.”

Tareen and Dale reported from Chicago. Witte reported from Annapolis, Maryland.

People protest against federal immigration enforcement Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

People protest against federal immigration enforcement Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)