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American leader visits abroad have historically been an opportunity to display the power of the US on the global scene. Trump's multi-day swing through Asian nations, by contrast, has been a display of the power of Trump – but also, at moments, of that influence's limitations.

Trump's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an exercise in catering to a sometimes volatile president. It was an recognition that Trump, with the stroke of a pen, could introduce taxes and additional actions that have the potential to damage the markets of export-oriented states.

His discussion with China's president Xi Jinping on the last day, nevertheless, was something entirely different.

It was a meeting of peers on the world platform, where the stakes for each country – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their people – were enormous.

With Beijing, the president may use his authority, but these moves come with ramifications. They involve a cost.

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For the initial phase, the president's latest entry into world politics was successful.

Each visit was characterized by a blend of conventional economic talks – arrangements made under the shadow of the president's "equivalent" duties – and personal accommodations that at points verged on the deferential.

In Malaysia, Trump gained access to essential resources and made advances toward finalizing economic agreements with south-east Asian nations. He also led a pact that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace agreement" the American president loves to tout.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One soared near a landmark tower displayed red, white and blue – with a top in golden.

Freshly appointed Head the Japanese leader detailed $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the United States and gave the president a gift of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and carrier that came from former Prime Minister Abe, the killed former prime minister who bonded with Trump in his first term.

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

Keeping pace, the Korean government received Trump with artillery performing a 21-gun salute and a armed forces orchestra that played the leader's song and the classic tune – the Village People anthem that has turned into a presidential event anthem.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he awarded the American leader his state's top honor and a copy of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with Lee contained a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered baked goods. Afterward, the hosts provided Trump fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honor with multiple international heads present at the regional summit summit.

In the America, the president may be the subject of "Anti-Authority" rallies by US citizens who reject his limit-pushing expansions of presidential power, but during his Asian swing he was received as nobility.

And like the kings of history, Trump came to the Korean nation seeking tribute – in the form of $two hundred billion in cash payments, $twenty billion a year, from South Korea to the United States, to be used at the guidance of the president's government. Consent on the conditions of those transfers helped ensure that the tariff rate on host nation goods to the America would decrease from 25% to 15%.

The primary focus of Trump's Asian tour occurred in its concluding phase, however, as he met with Xi.

At that location, the authority balance between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was markedly different than the exchanges the president had with his overseas colleagues in previous days.

Not present were typical pomp and the spectacle. Lacking service ensembles, absent ceremonial troops, missing carefully crafted dining selections honoring shared goodwill. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors were seated across a large pale discussion surface in a unremarkable service structure just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's air transport hub.

It was perhaps a demonstration of the major consequences that when Trump exchanged greetings with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he seemed