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US presidential trips internationally have typically been an opportunity to display the power of the American nation on the international platform. Donald Trump's five-day tour through East Asia, by contrast, has been a display of the authority of the president – but also, at points, of that power's constraints.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an demonstration in pleasing a sometimes volatile US leader. It was an recognition that the leader, with the signature of a hand, could impose duties and further steps that have the potential to harm the financial systems of export-dependent nations.

His meeting with China's president Xi on Thursday, however, was a distinct situation.

It was a encounter of peers on the global stage, where the consequences for both nations – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their people – were immense.

With the Chinese, the US leader may flick his power, but those steps involve consequences. They come with a toll.

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For the first four days, the president's recent entry into world politics was successful.

Each destination was characterized by a mix of standard trade negotiations – deals made under the pressure of the president's "reciprocal" duties – and personal accommodations that at times approached the deferential.

In Malaysia, the president secured entry to essential resources and made headway toward concluding trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a pact that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the president prefers to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter soared near a famous structure illuminated US flag colors – with a summit in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Prime Minister Takaichi detailed $half-trillion in Japan's financial commitments in the America and offered the American president a present of 250 flowering trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a golf club and carrier that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the killed past head who developed ties with Trump in his first term.

She also became the most recent international head to nominate the president for his long-sought Nobel Peace Prize.

Matching the effort, South Korea received the president with cannons discharging a 21-gun salute and a armed forces orchestra that played the leader's song and the classic tune – the band song that has become a Trump rally theme.

President the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he presented the president his country's highest medal and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Noon repast with the Korean leader included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Afterward, the Koreans served Trump premium vintage at an intimate dinner in Trump's honour with six global figures attending the regional summit summit.

In the America, the president may be the target of "No Kings" protests by the public who oppose his limit-pushing extensions of leader's control, but during his regional tour he was received as royalty.

And like the rulers of history, the president arrived in the Korean nation seeking tribute – in the shape of $200bn in financial transfers, $twenty billion a per year, from Korea to the America, to be used at the direction of the president's administration. Agreement on the terms of those payments contributed to that the tax percentage on Korean exports to the United States would fall from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The central moment of Trump's Asian tour came in its concluding phase, though, as he encountered Xi.

At that location, the influence relationship between leaders of the global top two markets was noticeably different than the interactions Trump had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Absent were typical pomp and the spectacle. No service ensembles, no ceremonial troops, missing meticulously designed dining selections celebrating shared goodwill. Rather, the two leaders and their senior advisors positioned themselves across a long white discussion surface in a unremarkable service structure just off the runway of the city of Busan's international airport.

It was likely a indication of the significant risks that when the president made contact with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he seemed