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Presidential journeys abroad have traditionally been an opportunity to showcase the strength of the US on the world stage. Donald Trump's week-long trip through Asian nations, on the other hand, has been a demonstration of the authority of the leader – but also, at moments, of that power's boundaries.

Trump's stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an demonstration in satisfying a occasionally mercurial president. It was an recognition that the president, with the signature of a pen, could introduce duties and other measures that have the potential to damage the economies of export-dependent nations.

His discussion with China's president Xi Jinping on the last day, nevertheless, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of peers on the global stage, where the consequences for the two powers – for their financial health, for their international prestige, for the prosperity of their citizens – were enormous.

With Beijing, the US leader may wave his pen, but those steps entail repercussions. They carry a toll.

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For the initial phase, Trump's recent entry into international relations was uneventful.

Each destination was marked by a combination of conventional commercial discussions – arrangements made under the threat of Trump's "equivalent" taxes – and special treatment that at times bordered on the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, Trump obtained rights to key materials and made headway toward completing economic agreements with ASEAN countries. He also oversaw a agreement that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the sort of "truce" the American president prefers to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, Trump's Marine One soared near a landmark tower displayed American colors – with a summit in Trumpian gold.

Recently chosen Head Takaichi described $550bn in Tokyo's funding in the US and presented the American president a offering of 250 flowering trees for America's 250th birthday, and a golf club and case that came from former Prime Minister Abe, the murdered past head who bonded with the president in his first term.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to suggest the president for his highly-coveted peace award.

Not to be outdone, South Korea received the president with guns discharging a 21-gun salute and a service ensemble that performed the presidential anthem and YMCA – the Village People anthem that has evolved into a political gathering theme.

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

Lunch with the Korean leader included a "Conciliatory Treat" of gilded baked goods. Later that day, the hosts served the president premium vintage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honour with six international heads attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference conference.

In the US, the president may be the focus of "No Kings" demonstrations by Americans who reject his boundary-testing increases of executive authority, but during his Asian visit he was received as monarchy.

And like the kings of old, Trump came to South Korea requesting tribute – in the guise of $200 billion in cash payments, $20 billion a per year, from Korea to the United States, to be invested at the guidance of the president's leadership. Consent on the conditions of those transfers contributed to that the duty level on Korean products to the United States would fall from a quarter to fifteen percent.

The main event of the president's Asian tour took place in its concluding phase, nevertheless, as he met with the Chinese leader.

In that setting, the authority balance between counterparts of the world's two largest economies was markedly distinct than the interactions Trump had with his foreign counterparts in prior visits.

Not present were typical pomp and the spectacle. Lacking armed forces orchestras, without ceremonial troops, without meticulously designed menus celebrating mutual national affection. Rather, the two leaders and their key staff positioned themselves across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a nondescript armed forces facility just adjacent to the landing strip of the southern port's international airport.

It was possibly a indication of the major consequences that when Trump made contact with Xi in the Korean city, he appeared