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Presidential journeys internationally have historically been an chance to demonstrate the power of the American nation on the world stage. Trump's five-day tour through Asian nations, conversely, has been a demonstration of the clout of the president – but also, at times, of that power's constraints.

The president's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the initial days were an display in pleasing a sometimes volatile US leader. It was an acknowledgement that Trump, with the signature of a document, could impose duties and further steps that have the capacity to harm the economies of trade-reliant nations.

His meeting with Beijing's head Xi Jinping on Thursday, nevertheless, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of counterparts on the international scene, where the stakes for the two powers – for their financial health, for their world reputation, for the prosperity of their people – were enormous.

With the Chinese, the president may use his pen, but such actions involve consequences. They involve a cost.

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For the initial phase, Trump's recent foray into international relations was successful.

Each stop was characterized by a blend of standard trade negotiations – arrangements made under the pressure of the president's "mutual" duties – and individual concessions that at points verged on the subservient.

In the Malaysian stop, the president obtained access to essential resources and made advances toward finalizing commercial deals with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a treaty that should alleviate territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the president enjoys to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's Marine One flew past a landmark tower displayed American colors – with a top in gilded.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi detailed $550bn in Japan's financial commitments in the US and gave the president a gift of 250 cherry trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a sports gear and carrier that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the assassinated past head who developed ties with Trump in his previous administration.

She also became the latest international head to suggest Trump for his much-desired international honor.

Not to be outdone, the Korean government greeted Trump with guns performing a honor salute and a military band that performed the leader's song and YMCA – the musical group song that has evolved into a Trump rally standard.

President the Korean president held an "recognition ritual" for Trump during which he gave the president his nation's top honor and a replica of an historical royal headpiece.

Midday meal with the Korean leader contained a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Afterward, the Koreans offered the president fine beverage at an intimate dinner in the president's honour with multiple world leaders participating in the APEC summit.

In the US, the president may be the target of "Anti-Authority" protests by US citizens who disapprove of his authority-expanding expansions of executive authority, but during his regional visit he was treated like monarchy.

And like the monarchs of old, the president visited the Korean nation demanding payment – in the form of $200bn in cash payments, $twenty billion a annually, from South Korea to the US, to be allocated at the discretion of Trump's administration. Agreement on the terms of those transfers assisted in that the tariff rate on Korean goods to the US would drop from a quarter to under twenty percent.

The primary focus of Trump's Asian tour took place in its concluding phase, however, as he encountered the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the influence relationship between heads of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly different than the interactions the president had with his foreign counterparts in earlier stops.

Not present were typical pomp and the pageantry. Lacking armed forces orchestras, no ceremonial troops, without meticulously designed meal plans marking shared goodwill. Rather, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors sat across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a nondescript armed forces facility just adjacent to the landing strip of Busan's global terminal.

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