Final answer:
Emperor Hongwu restricted foreign contact to protect his empire from outside influences and maintain self-sufficiency, asserting political dominance by limiting trade to tribute exchanges.
Step-by-step explanation:
Emperor Hongwu was reluctant to establish contact with other nations due to a desire to reverse the effects of foreign occupation after the defeat of the Mongols and to protect his empire from outside influences. He limited trade to the exchange of tribute goods, applying pressure on nations desiring Chinese products to accept his terms, such as demands to the Ashikaga shoguns to control Japanese pirates. This policy was a move to consolidate power, endorse self-sufficiency, and maintain the cultural and political status quo by warding off any potentially destabilizing external ideas. Consequently, in 1371, he prohibited all private foreign trade and later officially ended it, reflecting a broader trend of isolationism that characterized his reign and was continued, in different ways, by his successors.