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US presidential trips abroad have historically been an opportunity to display the power of the US on the international platform. Trump's week-long trip through Asian nations, conversely, has been a show of the clout of the leader – but also, at points, of that power's constraints.

The president's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the first four days were an demonstration in catering to a at times volatile president. It was an admission that the leader, with the signature of a pen, could introduce tariffs and additional actions that have the capacity to damage the markets of trade-reliant nations.

His meeting with China's president Xi Jinping on the final day, nevertheless, was a distinct situation.

It was a session of counterparts on the global stage, where the stakes for each country – for their markets, for their international prestige, for the prosperity of their people – were significant.

With Beijing, the president may wave his power, but those steps entail consequences. They involve a price.

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For the initial phase, Trump's most recent venture into international relations was successful.

Each visit was characterized by a blend of traditional economic talks – deals made under the shadow of the president's "reciprocal" taxes – and personal accommodations that at times verged on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump secured entry to key materials and made progress toward concluding trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a agreement that should ease territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the American president prefers to promote.

In the Japanese leg, the president's helicopter flew past a landmark tower displayed red, white and blue – with a peak in gilded.

Newly elected Prime Minister the Japanese leader described $550 billion in Japan's financial commitments in the US and presented the US leader a gift of two hundred fifty flowering trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a sports gear and case that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the assassinated past head who connected with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent overseas counterpart to suggest the president for his highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Keeping pace, South Korea received the president with artillery discharging a traditional greeting and a military band that played the leader's song and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has turned into a political gathering standard.

President the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he presented the American leader his state's premier award and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Midday meal with the Korean leader featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded baked goods. Afterward, the Koreans served the president vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in Trump's honour with half-dozen international heads present at the regional summit conference.

In the US, Trump may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by the public who oppose his authority-expanding increases of leader's control, but during his East Asia tour he was handled as nobility.

And like the monarchs of history, the president came to Korea demanding payment – in the form of $200bn in monetary contributions, $20 billion a annually, from South Korea to the United States, to be used at the discretion of the president's administration. Approval on the details of those transfers contributed to that the tariff rate on host nation goods to the America would drop from 25% to 15%.

The primary focus of Trump's regional visit came in its concluding phase, however, as he sat down with Xi.

In that setting, the authority balance between counterparts of the global top two markets was markedly divergent than the exchanges Trump had with his international peers in previous days.

Not present were all the ceremony and the display. Lacking armed forces orchestras, absent honour guards, without meticulously designed dining selections celebrating bilateral friendship. By contrast, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors were seated across a long white discussion surface in a unremarkable military building just off the runway of the city of Busan's international airport.

It was possibly a reflection of the significant risks that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he looked