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Presidential journeys abroad have historically been an chance to display the influence of the United States on the global scene. The president's five-day swing through Asian nations, by contrast, has been a show of the authority of the president – but also, at points, of that authority's constraints.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the opening phase were an exercise in satisfying a at times unpredictable US leader. It was an acknowledgement that the president, with the stroke of a hand, could enact taxes and other measures that have the ability to devastate the financial systems of export-oriented states.

His meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the final day, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a session of equals on the world platform, where the consequences for both nations – for their markets, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their citizens – were enormous.

With Beijing, Trump may wave his power, but those steps involve repercussions. They come with a price.

• The US president describes 'remarkable' encounter with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• Xi and Trump reach temporary truce as Beijing plays longer game

For the opening segment, the president's recent venture into global diplomacy was successful.

Each stop was marked by a mix of conventional economic talks – arrangements made under the pressure of Trump's "equivalent" taxes – and personal accommodations that at points verged on the obsequious.

In Malaysia, the president obtained access to critical minerals and made headway toward finalizing trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a agreement that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace deal" the US leader prefers to tout.

In the Japanese leg, the president's Marine One soared near a Tokyo Tower displayed US flag colors – with a top in golden.

Recently chosen Prime Minister Takaichi detailed $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the United States and gave the US leader a present of 250 sakura trees for America's 250th birthday, and a golf club and bag that was owned by former Prime Minister Abe, the assassinated past head who developed ties with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the most recent international head to suggest the president for his highly-coveted international honor.

Keeping pace, South Korea received the president with cannons firing a 21-gun salute and a military band that performed the presidential anthem and YMCA – the Village People song that has turned into a presidential event standard.

Head Lee held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he gave the American leader his country's highest medal and a replica of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Lunch with Lee featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-covered brownies. Afterward, the South Koreans provided the president vineyard wine at an private meal in the president's recognition with six international heads present at the APEC meeting.

In the United States, the president may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" demonstrations by the public who reject his limit-pushing expansions of executive authority, but during his Asian tour he was received as monarchy.

And like the kings of old, Trump came to the Korean nation requesting tribute – in the shape of $200 billion in cash payments, $20 billion a year, from Korea to the United States, to be used at the guidance of the president's government. Consent on the conditions of those contributions assisted in that the tariff rate on Korean goods to the United States would decrease from a quarter to fifteen percent.

The primary focus of Trump's Asia trip occurred in its final hours, nevertheless, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the power dynamic between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was markedly distinct than the interactions the president had with his international peers in prior visits.

Not present were typical ceremony and the spectacle. Without any service ensembles, no protocol units, missing carefully crafted menus marking bilateral friendship. Rather, the two leaders and their top aides positioned themselves across a large pale negotiating table in a nondescript armed forces facility just off the runway of Busan's global terminal.

It was perhaps a demonstration of the high stakes that when the president exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he looked