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US presidential trips abroad have traditionally been an chance to showcase the power of the American nation on the international platform. Donald Trump's multi-day trip through eastern Asia, on the other hand, has been a display of the power of Trump – but also, at moments, of that authority's limitations.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the opening phase were an demonstration in satisfying a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an admission that the president, with the signature of a pen, could impose taxes and additional actions that have the ability to damage the markets of trade-reliant states.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi Jinping on the last day, though, was a completely different scenario.

It was a encounter of peers on the international scene, where the risks for the two powers – for their financial health, for their global standing, for the well-being of their people – were enormous.

With Beijing, Trump may use his authority, but these moves come with consequences. They come with a cost.

• The US president describes 'impressive' encounter with Xi but no agreement agreed
• The Chinese president and the US leader find temporary truce as China pursues extended strategy

For the first four days, the president's most recent foray into international relations was uneventful.

Each stop was marked by a combination of conventional trade negotiations – arrangements made under the pressure of the president's "reciprocal" taxes – and special treatment that at times bordered on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president secured access to critical minerals and made progress toward finalizing commercial deals with regional partners. He also led a pact that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the American president loves to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's official aircraft soared near a famous structure illuminated American colors – with a peak in gilded.

Recently chosen Head the Japanese leader described $550 billion in Japanese investments in the US and gave the American president a offering of 250 cherry trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a golf club and case that belonged to the late leader, the killed ex-leader who developed ties with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent international head to suggest Trump for his highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Not to be outdone, Korea greeted the president with guns performing a traditional greeting and a armed forces orchestra that rendered the presidential anthem and YMCA – the musical group song that has turned into a Trump rally theme.

President Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for the US leader during which he awarded the president his state's top honor and a replica of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Noon repast with the Korean leader featured a "Conciliatory Treat" of gold-encrusted baked goods. Later that day, the hosts offered the president fine beverage at an private meal in the president's honor with half-dozen global figures attending the APEC meeting.

In the America, Trump may be the target of "Anti-Authority" rallies by the public who oppose his boundary-testing extensions of presidential power, but during his Asian tour he was handled as royalty.

And like the monarchs of ancient times, the president visited Korea requesting payment – in the form of $200bn in cash payments, $20 billion a per year, from Korea to the America, to be invested at the discretion of Trump's leadership. Agreement on the details of those contributions assisted in that the tax percentage on South Korean goods to the US would decrease from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The primary focus of the president's Asia trip occurred in its final hours, however, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

At that location, the power dynamic between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was markedly divergent than the exchanges the president had with his international peers in earlier stops.

Absent were all the pomp and the spectacle. Without any armed forces orchestras, without protocol units, without thoughtfully prepared dining selections honoring mutual national affection. By contrast, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors were seated across a large pale meeting furniture in a nondescript military building just adjacent to the landing strip of the southern port's air transport hub.

It was possibly a indication of the significant risks that when the president made contact with Xi in Busan, he appeared