Unfortunately, as far as succeeding in almost anything goes, this seems to be the meta. Even if these guys hate Trump and (very likely) recognize that he's wreaking havoc on the economy and really hurting their business with tariffs, for some reason, flattery gets you everywhere with Trump. Gifts and bribery get you very far with Trump. Trump makes decisions with his ego rather than for the good of the country. And it's substantially better for business/diplomacy/whatever for such a fickle and vindictive US president to like you.

Absolutely not how the world should be, but IMO it's up to democracy to oust Trump and not to let this madness happen again. Any time I see CEOs or world leaders flattering Trump like this, I can no longer tell the difference between utter morons and people who have just learned to play the game to manipulate Trump and get what they want. This is just how Trump-era politics work, to everyone's detriment.