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US presidential trips overseas have typically been an occasion to display the strength of the US on the international platform. Trump's multi-day tour through eastern Asia, on the other hand, has been a display of the clout of Trump – but also, at moments, of that authority's boundaries.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the duration of the initial days were an display in satisfying a sometimes unpredictable US leader. It was an recognition that Trump, with the flick of a pen, could enact duties and additional actions that have the potential to damage the economies of trade-reliant nations.

His discussion with Beijing's head Xi on the last day, however, was something entirely different.

It was a encounter of peers on the global stage, where the consequences for the two powers – for their markets, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their citizens – were significant.

With the Chinese, Trump may use his power, but these moves entail repercussions. They carry a cost.

• Trump hails 'amazing' meeting with Xi but no pact reached
• Xi and Trump find short-term ceasefire as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the initial phase, Trump's most recent foray into world politics was smooth sailing.

Each visit was marked by a combination of traditional economic talks – deals made under the threat of the president's "mutual" tariffs – and special treatment that at times bordered on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president obtained entry to essential resources and made headway toward completing economic agreements with regional partners. He also presided over a treaty that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "truce" the president prefers to promote.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One soared near a Tokyo Tower displayed red, white and blue – with a summit in gilded.

Freshly appointed Head Takaichi described $550bn in Japanese investments in the US and offered the US leader a offering of two hundred fifty flowering trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a golf club and case that came from the late leader, the murdered former prime minister who connected with the president in his previous administration.

She also became the latest international head to propose the president for his long-sought peace award.

Matching the effort, South Korea welcomed Trump with artillery performing a traditional greeting and a service ensemble that performed the leader's song and YMCA – the musical group song that has turned into a presidential event theme.

Head the Korean president held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he awarded the president his state's top honor and a replica of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Lunch with Lee contained a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Later that day, the hosts served the president vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with half-dozen world leaders participating in the APEC summit.

In the US, Trump may be the subject of "No Kings" rallies by Americans who reject his authority-expanding extensions of presidential power, but during his regional swing he was treated like monarchy.

And like the rulers of history, Trump visited Korea seeking payment – in the form of $200 billion in monetary contributions, $twenty billion a annually, from South Korea to the America, to be invested at the discretion of Trump's government. Agreement on the details of those transfers helped ensure that the tariff rate on host nation products to the United States would drop from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of the president's Asia trip came in its last moments, nevertheless, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

At that location, the power dynamic between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly divergent than the exchanges the president had with his foreign counterparts in prior visits.

Absent were typical ceremony and the spectacle. No armed forces orchestras, absent protocol units, no carefully crafted meal plans marking shared goodwill. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors positioned themselves across a long white discussion surface in a plain service structure just near the airstrip of Busan's global terminal.

It was perhaps a indication of the major consequences that when the president shook hands with the Chinese leader in the Korean city, he appeared