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Presidential journeys overseas have historically been an occasion to demonstrate the strength of the United States on the international platform. Trump's multi-day trip through Asian nations, on the other hand, has been a show of the power of Trump – but also, at times, of that authority's limitations.

Trump's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the opening phase were an exercise in pleasing a sometimes volatile American president. It was an admission that the president, with the signature of a hand, could introduce taxes and further steps that have the potential to damage the economies of trade-reliant states.

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

It was a encounter of peers on the world platform, where the stakes for the two powers – for their financial health, for their global standing, for the well-being of their populations – were immense.

With China, the president may flick his authority, but those steps come with consequences. They carry a price.

• Trump praises 'remarkable' encounter with the Chinese leader but no agreement agreed
• Xi and the US leader find temporary truce as Beijing plays longer game

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

Each destination was punctuated by a blend of traditional economic talks – arrangements made under the threat of the president's "equivalent" tariffs – and individual concessions that at points approached the obsequious.

In Malaysia, the president gained entry to critical minerals and made progress toward completing commercial deals with regional partners. He also led a agreement that should ease frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "truce" the American president enjoys to promote.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One soared near a Tokyo Tower lit US flag colors – with a top in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Prime Minister Takaichi outlined $550bn in Japan's financial commitments in the America and gave the president a present of a quarter-thousand cherry trees for the United States' 250th birthday, and a golf equipment and case that came from Shinzo Abe, the assassinated past head who connected with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the newest overseas counterpart to nominate Trump for his much-desired peace award.

Keeping pace, South Korea welcomed Trump with cannons performing a traditional greeting and a military band that performed the presidential anthem and the Village People song – the Village People song that has evolved into a presidential event anthem.

President Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for the US leader during which he presented the president his state's top honor and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Lunch with Lee featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gilded baked goods. Later that day, the hosts offered the president fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honor with half-dozen international heads attending the regional summit conference.

In the US, the president may be the focus of "Anti-Authority" rallies by the public who reject his boundary-testing extensions of leader's control, but during his regional tour he was received as royalty.

And like the kings of ancient times, Trump visited the Korean nation seeking payment – in the guise of $200bn in monetary contributions, $20 billion a annually, from Korea to the United States, to be used at the guidance of the president's leadership. Consent on the details of those contributions assisted in that the duty level on Korean goods to the America would drop from twenty-five percent to fifteen percent.

The main event of Trump's Asian tour came in its last moments, nevertheless, as he sat down with Xi.

There, the influence relationship between leaders of the global top two markets was decidedly divergent than the exchanges the president had with his foreign counterparts in prior visits.

Missing were all the pageantry and the spectacle. Without any armed forces orchestras, absent ceremonial troops, without carefully crafted dining selections marking shared goodwill. Rather, the two leaders and their senior advisors were seated across a long white discussion surface in a unremarkable service structure just near the airstrip of the southern port's air transport hub.

It was possibly a reflection of the high stakes that when Trump shook hands with Xi in the Korean city, he seemed