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Presidential journeys internationally have traditionally been an chance to display the influence of the US on the global scene. Donald Trump's week-long swing through Asian nations, conversely, has been a display of the authority of Trump – but also, at moments, of that influence's constraints.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the duration of the initial days were an demonstration in pleasing a occasionally unpredictable president. It was an acknowledgement that Trump, with the stroke of a pen, could impose taxes and other measures that have the ability to harm the economies of export-oriented countries.

His sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, nevertheless, was a completely different scenario.

It was a meeting of counterparts on the international scene, where the risks for the two powers – for their markets, for their global standing, for the prosperity of their people – were significant.

With China, the US leader may wave his authority, but these moves entail repercussions. They involve a toll.

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For the initial phase, the president's recent foray into global diplomacy was uneventful.

Each visit was characterized by a blend of standard commercial discussions – arrangements made under the pressure of the president's "equivalent" tariffs – and special treatment that at points bordered on the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, the president gained entry to key materials and made progress toward concluding trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also oversaw a pact that should alleviate border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia – the type of "peace deal" the US leader loves to tout.

In the Japanese leg, the president's helicopter flew past a famous structure illuminated American colors – with a summit in Trumpian gold.

Recently chosen Leader Sanai Takaichi outlined $550bn in Japan's financial commitments in the US and offered the US leader a gift of 250 sakura trees for America's semiquincentennial, and a sports gear and bag that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the killed ex-leader who bonded with Trump in his previous administration.

She also became the latest foreign leader to suggest the president for his highly-coveted international honor.

Keeping pace, Korea received Trump with cannons discharging a honor salute and a military band that played the presidential anthem and the classic tune – the musical group tune that has become a political gathering anthem.

Leader the Korean president held an "award event" for Trump during which he awarded the American leader his state's highest medal and a replica of an ancient Korean dynastic crown.

Lunch with the Korean leader included a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-encrusted baked goods. Afterward, the Koreans provided Trump vineyard wine at an intimate dinner in the president's recognition with half-dozen world leaders present at the APEC conference.

In the America, Trump may be the subject of "Anti-Monarchy" rallies by Americans who disapprove of his limit-pushing increases of leader's control, but during his Asian visit he was received as monarchy.

And like the kings of old, the president visited South Korea requesting contribution – in the form of $200bn in financial transfers, $twenty billion a annually, from Korea to the America, to be used at the direction of the president's administration. Consent on the details of those transfers assisted in that the tax percentage on host nation exports to the US would drop from twenty-five percent to under twenty percent.

The main event of Trump's Asian tour came in its final hours, nevertheless, as he sat down with the Chinese leader.

There, the power dynamic between counterparts of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly distinct than the exchanges Trump had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Missing were all the pageantry and the spectacle. Without any military bands, no ceremonial troops, no thoughtfully prepared menus honoring bilateral friendship. Instead, the both heads and their top aides were seated across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a unremarkable service structure just off the runway of the southern port's international airport.

It was possibly a indication of the high stakes that when Trump shook hands with the Chinese leader in the southern port, he looked