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Presidential journeys overseas have traditionally been an occasion to showcase the strength of the US on the international platform. Trump's week-long trip through East Asia, conversely, has been a display of the clout of the president – but also, at points, of that influence's boundaries.

Trump's destinations in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the course of the opening phase were an display in pleasing a occasionally mercurial president. It was an admission that the president, with the flick of a document, could introduce taxes and additional actions that have the ability to damage the financial systems of export-dependent countries.

His discussion with Chinese leader Xi on the last day, though, was a distinct situation.

It was a session of peers on the international scene, where the risks for both nations – for their markets, for their international prestige, for the well-being of their people – were immense.

With China, the US leader may wave his authority, but those steps come with ramifications. They carry a toll.

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For the first four days, Trump's latest venture into global diplomacy was successful.

Each stop was punctuated by a blend of standard trade negotiations – arrangements made under the shadow of Trump's "reciprocal" taxes – and individual concessions that at moments verged on the subservient.

In Malaysia, the president obtained rights to critical minerals and made headway toward finalizing economic agreements with south-east Asian nations. He also oversaw a pact that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "peace agreement" the American president loves to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's helicopter passed by a landmark tower illuminated US flag colors – with a peak in Trumpian gold.

Newly elected Head Sanai Takaichi detailed $half-trillion in Japan's financial commitments in the America and gave the American president a present of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for America's 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and case that came from former Prime Minister Abe, the killed former prime minister who developed ties with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to nominate the president for his much-desired peace award.

Matching the effort, South Korea welcomed the president with artillery performing a traditional greeting and a service ensemble that played Hail to the Chief and the Village People song – the band tune that has turned into a Trump rally standard.

Head Lee Jae Myung held an "award event" for Trump during which he gave the US president his country's top honor and a model of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Midday meal with the Korean leader included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted chocolate squares. Subsequently, the hosts offered the president premium vintage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honour with half-dozen world leaders participating in the APEC summit.

In the America, the president may be the target of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by US citizens who oppose his boundary-testing expansions of executive authority, but during his regional swing he was handled as monarchy.

And like the rulers of ancient times, the president came to Korea seeking tribute – in the shape of $200bn in financial transfers, $20 billion a per year, from South Korea to the US, to be invested at the direction of Trump's administration. Approval on the conditions of those transfers helped ensure that the tax percentage on host nation exports to the America would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The primary focus of Trump's Asia trip occurred in its last moments, though, as he met with Xi.

In that setting, the authority balance between counterparts of the world's two largest economies was decidedly different than the exchanges the president had with his international peers in earlier stops.

Missing were all the pomp and the display. Without any service ensembles, without protocol units, without carefully crafted dining selections marking bilateral friendship. By contrast, the pair of counterparts and their top aides sat across a large pale meeting furniture in a unremarkable military building just adjacent to the landing strip of the city of Busan's international airport.

It was likely a demonstration of the high stakes that when Trump made contact with Xi in the southern port, he appeared