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US presidential trips overseas have traditionally been an chance to demonstrate the strength of the American nation on the international platform. Donald Trump's week-long trip through Asian nations, on the other hand, has been a show of the clout of the president – but also, at times, of that power's constraints.

Trump's visits in Malaysia, Japan and Korea over the course of the first four days were an display in catering to a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an acknowledgement that Trump, with the stroke of a hand, could introduce taxes and other measures that have the capacity to harm the financial systems of export-oriented states.

His discussion with Beijing's head Xi on the final day, however, was something entirely different.

It was a session of counterparts on the world platform, where the risks for each country – for their economies, for their international prestige, for the welfare of their citizens – were immense.

With the Chinese, the president may flick his pen, but those steps come with ramifications. They come with a price.

• The US president hails 'remarkable' talks with the Chinese leader but no pact reached
• Xi and the US leader establish temporary truce as Beijing adopts strategic patience

For the initial phase, the president's latest foray into international relations was successful.

Each visit was punctuated by a blend of conventional economic talks – arrangements made under the shadow of the president's "equivalent" tariffs – and individual concessions that at times approached the subservient.

In Malaysia, Trump obtained entry to critical minerals and made headway toward completing trade arrangements with south-east Asian nations. He also presided over a agreement that should reduce territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the US leader enjoys to highlight.

In the Japanese leg, the president's helicopter flew past a landmark tower illuminated US flag colors – with a summit in gilded.

Recently chosen Head Sanai Takaichi described $550bn in Japanese investments in the United States and presented the president a present of two hundred fifty cherry trees for the United States' 250th anniversary, and a golf equipment and bag that was owned by Shinzo Abe, the killed former prime minister who bonded with Trump in his first term.

She also became the most recent foreign leader to nominate Trump for his highly-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Not to be outdone, Korea greeted Trump with artillery discharging a honor salute and a armed forces orchestra that performed Hail to the Chief and the classic tune – the Village People tune that has turned into a Trump rally anthem.

Head the Korean president held an "recognition ritual" for Trump during which he awarded the American leader his nation's top honor and a copy of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Lunch with Lee featured a "Diplomat's Sweet" of gilded chocolate squares. Later that day, the South Koreans provided Trump fine beverage at an exclusive gathering in the president's honor with six world leaders participating in the APEC summit.

In the United States, the president may be the focus of "Anti-Authority" rallies by the public who reject his boundary-testing expansions of executive authority, but during his East Asia swing he was received as royalty.

And like the rulers of history, the president arrived in the Korean nation requesting tribute – in the shape of $200 billion in cash payments, $20 billion a per year, from the host nation to the America, to be allocated at the guidance of the president's administration. Approval on the details of those payments helped ensure that the tax percentage on host nation goods to the America would fall from twenty-five percent to 15%.

The main event of Trump's Asian tour came in its concluding phase, though, as he sat down with Xi.

In that setting, the power dynamic between leaders of the planet's biggest economic powers was decidedly divergent than the exchanges the president had with his foreign counterparts in previous days.

Not present were all the ceremony and the spectacle. Without any armed forces orchestras, absent protocol units, no meticulously designed menus marking bilateral friendship. Rather, the both heads and their key staff were seated across a extended light-colored meeting furniture in a unremarkable armed forces facility just adjacent to the landing strip of the city of Busan's global terminal.

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