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Presidential journeys internationally have typically been an occasion to demonstrate the strength of the American nation on the world stage. Donald Trump's multi-day tour through Asian nations, conversely, has been a show of the authority of the president – but also, at moments, of that authority's boundaries.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the duration of the opening phase were an exercise in pleasing a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an acknowledgement that the president, with the signature of a document, could introduce taxes and additional actions that have the ability to harm the financial systems of export-oriented states.

His meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the final day, however, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of counterparts on the global stage, where the risks for the two powers – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their people – were immense.

With China, Trump may flick his authority, but those steps involve repercussions. They come with a cost.

• The US president hails 'amazing' meeting with the Chinese leader but no agreement finalized
• Xi and Trump reach temporary truce as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the opening segment, Trump's most recent entry into international relations was uneventful.

Each stop was punctuated by a blend of conventional economic talks – deals made under the shadow of Trump's "equivalent" duties – and individual concessions that at times verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, Trump gained entry to key materials and made headway toward concluding economic agreements with regional partners. He also presided over a agreement that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "truce" the president loves to tout.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One passed by a landmark tower illuminated American colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Prime Minister the Japanese leader detailed $550 billion in Tokyo's funding in the America and offered the American president a present of two hundred fifty cherry trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf club and bag that was owned by former Prime Minister Abe, the murdered past head who bonded with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the most recent international head to nominate Trump for his much-desired peace award.

Matching the effort, South Korea welcomed the president with guns firing a honor salute and a armed forces orchestra that performed the presidential anthem and YMCA – the Village People anthem that has turned into a presidential event standard.

Head Lee held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he awarded the US president his state's premier award and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Lunch with the Korean leader included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Later that day, the Koreans provided the president premium vintage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honor with multiple international heads present at the APEC summit.

In the United States, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" protests by the public who oppose his boundary-testing increases of executive authority, but during his regional visit he was treated like royalty.

And like the rulers of history, the president arrived in Korea seeking contribution – in the form of $200bn in financial transfers, $20 billion a per year, from Korea to the America, to be allocated at the discretion of Trump's administration. Approval on the terms of those payments assisted in that the tax percentage on host nation exports to the United States would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The primary focus of the president's Asia trip came in its last moments, nevertheless, as he sat down with Xi.

There, the power dynamic between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was markedly divergent than the meetings the president had with his overseas colleagues in earlier stops.

Missing were all the pageantry and the display. Lacking armed forces orchestras, absent protocol units, missing thoughtfully prepared dining selections marking shared goodwill. By contrast, the two leaders and their key staff were seated across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a plain military building just adjacent to the landing strip of the city of Busan's global terminal.

It was perhaps a indication of the significant risks that when the president shook hands with Xi in the southern port, he appeared