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US presidential trips abroad have typically been an opportunity to showcase the strength of the American nation on the international platform. The president's five-day trip through East Asia, on the other hand, has been a display of the clout of the leader – but also, at moments, of that authority's limitations.

The president's visits in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea over the span of the first four days were an display in catering to a occasionally unpredictable US leader. It was an recognition that the president, with the stroke of a document, could enact taxes and additional actions that have the capacity to devastate the markets of export-dependent countries.

His meeting with China's president Xi Jinping on the final day, though, was a completely different scenario.

It was a session of equals on the world platform, where the risks for the two powers – for their markets, for their global standing, for the well-being of their citizens – were enormous.

With the Chinese, Trump may wave his pen, but those steps entail consequences. They involve a price.

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For the initial phase, the president's latest entry into world politics was smooth sailing.

Each destination was marked by a mix of conventional commercial discussions – agreements made under the pressure of Trump's "reciprocal" duties – and personal accommodations that at points verged on the obsequious.

In the Malaysian stop, the president obtained access to critical minerals and made progress toward finalizing commercial deals with regional partners. He also led a agreement that should alleviate frontier issues between Thailand and Cambodia – the kind of "peace agreement" the American president loves to highlight.

In Japan, Trump's Marine One soared near a famous structure illuminated red, white and blue – with a summit in Trumpian gold.

Freshly appointed Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi detailed $550 billion in Japanese investments in the United States and presented the US leader a offering of a quarter-thousand sakura trees for America's 250th birthday, and a sports gear and bag that was owned by the late leader, the assassinated past head who bonded with Trump in his first term.

She also became the newest international head to propose the president for his long-sought peace award.

Keeping pace, Korea welcomed the president with cannons discharging a traditional greeting and a armed forces orchestra that played the presidential anthem and YMCA – the band anthem that has turned into a political gathering anthem.

President Lee Jae Myung held an "honour ceremony" for Trump during which he awarded the American leader his country's highest medal and a replica of an traditional ruler's coronet.

Lunch with Lee featured a "Peacemaker's Dessert" of gold-covered chocolate squares. Subsequently, the South Koreans served Trump vineyard wine at an exclusive gathering in Trump's honor with half-dozen world leaders present at the regional summit meeting.

In the US, Trump may be the focus of "Anti-Monarchy" protests by Americans who disapprove of his limit-pushing expansions of presidential power, but during his East Asia swing he was received as royalty.

And like the kings of history, Trump came to South Korea seeking contribution – in the guise of $200bn in monetary contributions, $20bn a year, from South Korea to the United States, to be invested at the discretion of the president's administration. Approval on the conditions of those contributions assisted in that the duty level on host nation products to the United States would decrease from 25% to 15%.

The central moment of Trump's Asia trip occurred in its final hours, though, as he met with the Chinese leader.

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

Not present were typical ceremony and the display. Without any armed forces orchestras, no honour guards, without meticulously designed dining selections marking shared goodwill. Instead, the two leaders and their key staff were seated across a large pale discussion surface in a nondescript armed forces facility just off the runway of Busan's international airport.

It was likely a demonstration of the high stakes that when the president made contact with Xi in Busan, he appeared