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American leader visits abroad have traditionally been an occasion to display the strength of the United States on the world stage. Donald Trump's five-day tour through Asian nations, conversely, has been a show of the clout of Trump – but also, at moments, of that authority's boundaries.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the initial days were an display in pleasing a at times unpredictable US leader. It was an recognition that the leader, with the stroke of a hand, could introduce taxes and further steps that have the potential to devastate the economies of export-oriented nations.

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

It was a session of counterparts on the international scene, where the stakes for the two powers – for their markets, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their citizens – were significant.

With Beijing, the president may wave his power, but such actions involve consequences. They involve a cost.

• The US president praises 'amazing' talks with Xi but no agreement agreed
• Xi and Trump reach brief pause as China adopts strategic patience

For the opening segment, Trump's most recent venture into international relations was successful.

Each destination was punctuated by a combination of conventional economic talks – agreements made under the shadow of Trump's "mutual" taxes – and individual concessions that at moments bordered on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured rights to critical minerals and made progress toward completing trade arrangements with regional partners. He also led a pact that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "truce" the American president prefers to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One soared near a landmark tower displayed American colors – with a peak in golden.

Recently chosen Prime Minister the Japanese leader outlined $550 billion in Japan's financial commitments in the United States and offered the American president a gift of 250 flowering trees for the United States' semiquincentennial, and a golf equipment and case that came from former Prime Minister Abe, the killed ex-leader who developed ties with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to propose Trump for his long-sought international honor.

Not to be outdone, Korea welcomed the president with cannons performing a honor salute and a service ensemble that performed the leader's song and the Village People song – the musical group song that has become a Trump rally anthem.

President the Korean president held an "recognition ritual" for the US leader during which he presented the US president his country's top honor and a model of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Lunch with Lee included a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Later that day, the South Koreans offered the president fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honour with multiple global figures participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference conference.

In the America, Trump may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" protests by the public who disapprove of his authority-expanding expansions of leader's control, but during his Asian visit he was received as monarchy.

And like the rulers of ancient times, Trump visited the Korean nation requesting tribute – in the form of $two hundred billion in monetary contributions, $20 billion a annually, from Korea to the United States, to be invested at the direction of Trump's administration. Consent on the conditions of those contributions assisted in that the duty level on South Korean goods to the US would drop from 25% to under twenty percent.

The central moment of the president's Asia trip came in its final hours, though, as he encountered Xi.

In that setting, the influence relationship between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly distinct than the meetings Trump had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Not present were typical ceremony and the display. No service ensembles, without honour guards, no meticulously designed dining selections celebrating bilateral friendship. Instead, the both heads and their top aides positioned themselves across a large pale discussion surface in a nondescript armed forces facility just near the airstrip of the city of Busan's international airport.

It was possibly a reflection of the significant risks that when Trump made contact with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he seemed