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American leader visits internationally have historically been an opportunity to display the strength of the United States on the international platform. The president's week-long trip through eastern Asia, conversely, has been a display of the clout of Trump – but also, at moments, of that influence's limitations.

The president's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the span of the initial days were an demonstration in catering to a occasionally mercurial American president. It was an admission that the leader, with the signature of a pen, could enact duties and additional actions that have the capacity to damage the markets of export-dependent nations.

His meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the final day, however, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of equals on the world platform, where the consequences for each country – for their markets, for their global standing, for the well-being of their populations – were enormous.

With the Chinese, Trump may wave his authority, but those steps come with consequences. They come with a toll.

• The US president hails 'impressive' encounter with Xi but no agreement finalized
• Xi and Trump reach temporary truce as Beijing pursues extended strategy

For the initial phase, the president's recent venture into world politics was successful.

Each visit was marked by a mix of traditional trade negotiations – arrangements made under the pressure of the president's "mutual" duties – and personal accommodations that at moments verged on the obsequious.

In Malaysia, Trump obtained access to key materials and made progress toward finalizing trade arrangements with ASEAN countries. He also led a pact that should ease border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace agreement" the American president enjoys to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's Marine One soared near a landmark tower lit US flag colors – with a summit in gilded.

Recently chosen Head Sanai Takaichi outlined $half-trillion in Japanese investments in the US and gave the president a offering of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a sports gear and bag that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the murdered former prime minister who bonded with Trump in his initial presidency.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to nominate Trump for his long-sought peace award.

Matching the effort, Korea welcomed the president with artillery firing a traditional greeting and a armed forces orchestra that played the presidential anthem and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has become a Trump rally standard.

Leader Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for the US leader during which he gave the president his nation's top honor and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with the Korean leader included a "Conciliatory Treat" of gilded chocolate squares. Afterward, the South Koreans served the president vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's honor with multiple international heads present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit.

In the America, Trump may be the subject of "Anti-Monarchy" demonstrations by Americans who disapprove of his limit-pushing extensions of presidential power, but during his regional swing he was received as monarchy.

And like the monarchs of old, Trump visited Korea demanding contribution – in the form of $200bn in cash payments, $20bn a annually, from the host nation to the America, to be used at the direction of the president's administration. Consent on the conditions of those contributions assisted in that the duty level on host nation products to the America would fall from a quarter to under twenty percent.

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

In that setting, the influence relationship between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was noticeably different than the meetings Trump had with his international peers in previous days.

Absent were the usual ceremony and the spectacle. Lacking military bands, no ceremonial troops, missing thoughtfully prepared meal plans marking bilateral friendship. Instead, the pair of counterparts and their senior advisors positioned themselves across a large pale meeting furniture in a unremarkable military building just near the airstrip of Busan's global terminal.

It was perhaps a reflection of the significant risks that when Trump made contact with Xi in the southern port, he appeared