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American leader visits overseas have traditionally been an occasion to display the strength of the US on the international platform. Donald Trump's week-long tour through eastern Asia, conversely, has been a demonstration of the power of Trump – but also, at points, of that authority's boundaries.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the duration of the first four days were an display in pleasing a sometimes unpredictable American president. It was an recognition that Trump, with the signature of a hand, could enact duties and further steps that have the potential to damage the financial systems of export-oriented nations.

His sit-down with China's president Xi Jinping on the last day, though, was a distinct situation.

It was a meeting of counterparts on the global stage, where the stakes for each country – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their populations – were enormous.

With China, the president may use his pen, but these moves entail repercussions. They come with a cost.

• The US president describes 'remarkable' talks with Xi but no trade deal finalized
• Xi and the US leader find temporary truce as Beijing plays longer game

For the opening segment, the president's latest entry into world politics was successful.

Each stop was punctuated by a blend of standard trade negotiations – deals made under the pressure of Trump's "reciprocal" taxes – and personal accommodations that at moments bordered on the subservient.

In Malaysia, Trump gained entry to essential resources and made headway toward finalizing trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a agreement that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the president enjoys to tout.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter flew past a famous structure lit American colors – with a peak in golden.

Freshly appointed Leader Sanai Takaichi detailed $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the United States and presented the president a offering of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf club and bag that came from the late leader, the assassinated past head who developed ties with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the newest international head to propose the president for his much-desired international honor.

Keeping pace, the Korean government welcomed Trump with guns discharging a 21-gun salute and a military band that rendered the presidential anthem and YMCA – the Village People song that has become a political gathering theme.

Head the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he gave the US president his state's highest medal and a copy of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with Lee included a "Conciliatory Treat" of gilded baked goods. Subsequently, the Koreans offered Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with half-dozen world leaders present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference meeting.

In the America, the president may be the target of "No Kings" rallies by the public who reject his boundary-testing expansions of executive authority, but during his regional tour he was handled as royalty.

And like the rulers of old, Trump arrived in South Korea seeking tribute – in the shape of $two hundred billion in financial transfers, $twenty billion a year, from Korea to the United States, to be used at the direction of Trump's leadership. Approval on the details of those contributions assisted in that the tariff rate on Korean products to the United States would drop from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The main event of Trump's Asian tour occurred in its last moments, nevertheless, as he encountered Xi.

At that location, the authority balance between leaders of the world's two largest economies was noticeably divergent than the meetings Trump had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Missing were all the ceremony and the spectacle. Lacking military bands, absent ceremonial troops, no meticulously designed meal plans celebrating mutual national affection. Rather, the both heads and their key staff sat across a large pale negotiating table in a unremarkable service structure just off the runway of the southern port's global terminal.

It was likely a demonstration of the high stakes that when the president exchanged greetings with Xi in Busan, he appeared